Traditional switches are much less distracting than touchscreens

By Tom Payne Apr 16, 2020

London - There used to be a time when cranking up the heating in a car was as simple as turning a dial.

But these days drivers are confronted with an ever-increasing array of technology, covering everything from the satnav to the in-car entertainment – not to mention keeping warm.

To control all this gadgetry, more and more carmakers are installing touchscreens. However, research now suggests we might be safer sticking to old-fashioned buttons and dials.

Touchscreens are much more distracting and dangerous than traditional controls, according to a What Car? test of 20 different in-car systems.

It can take up to four times longer to zoom in and out of a satnav app on a touchscreen compared to using a rotary controller, according to the magazine’s research. And it took twice as long to adjust heating controls using touchscreens compared to physical dials.

The findings are worrying because distractions are a factor in a growing number of road accidents – accounting for 15 percent of UK accidents in 2018, compared to 13 percent in 2016 and 14 percent in 2017, according to Department for Transport figures.

What Car? found BMW’s iDrive system was the easiest in-car system to use, while MG’s 8-inch touchscreen was the most distracting.

Overall, testers reported that cars with sophisticated voice control systems were the least distracting. Those in new Audi, BMW and Mercedes cars are capable of recognising natural speech, meaning drivers don’t have to take their eyes off the road.

Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: "The best systems provide physical buttons and voice control, while those that are most distracting have sluggish touchscreens and require too many steps to carry out commands."

What Car? testers carried out and timed six tasks, including changing the temperature, zooming out on a sat-nav route and changing radio station.

They found examples of touchscreens which were "painfully slow to respond’ and which crashed frequently, forcing drivers to keep looking down at the screen."