this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.

While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.

“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.

The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.

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[–] arc@lemm.ee 3 points 2 hours ago

I think Euro NCAP ratings would have more teeth if it was mandatory for manufacturers of standard passenger vehicles to submit a reference model for testing. Voluntary testing doesn't work since manufacturers would be averse to submit cars for testing if they thought they'd get a bad score. And while Euro NCAP does sometimes buy cars for testing, they don't do it for every make and model.

And if the cheapest dogshit cars on the road (Kia Picantos, Dacia Sandero's etc) can have buttons, dials, wipers and indicators then so should everything above it. Companies like Tesla remove controls to cheap out on having to make a part, but they attempt to pass this off as innovation when it puts people's lives at risk.

[–] aulin@lemmy.world 15 points 6 hours ago

More physical controls is great, so I see this as a win. For navigation and media, I don't want to be without the screen, but I hate that my ventilation controls are 50 % hidden under touch controls, meaning I usually don't bother to change them while I drive, because it requires looking away too much.

[–] Viri4thus@feddit.org 37 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (4 children)

Before anyone forgets, this all started with Tesla. They lacked the skill, talent, know how, money and manufacturing capacity to make a decent center console. They then decided to move everything to the touchscreen because software is cheap to add to cars, thousands of small precision engineered objects are not. It was a margins game by the man "with the most knowledge on manufacturing in the world". The rest of the industry followed because the bougie idiots made the brand so popular "they could not be doing something wrong, right?". Queue the competitors copying that absolutely regarded idea. Everyone calling this regarded, was screamed into oblivion by tesla fanboys and design savants: "You're just too dumb to understand minimalist design". And here we are, turns out designing something that makes the driver take their eyes off the road on a 2000Kg murder machine is actually NOT good design.

[–] arc@lemm.ee 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Tesla doesn't have that excuse. The original Roadster, Model S and Model X all had fairly conventional controls. They deliberately undermined the safety of their vehicles over time by aggressively removing physical controls in the model 3 and Y and revamped S. It probably saved them a few bucks, but at the cost increased risk to human life. If they get penalized in safety tests for their penny pinching then so be it.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 11 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Also it accelerates the design-to-manufacture cycle of a new model - just slap a huge touch screen on it and start building the car, and hope the software is ready in time. If not, well, just ship it as is and patch it later.

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

Builds in a very expensive replacement component too.

A control button breaks? New button is a (still over-inflated) $75 to replace.

A Tesla control screen breaks (and they do, just as often as buttons) - $1500.

https://www.greencarfuture.com/electric/tesla-screen-replacement-cost-process#Cost

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

~~regarded~~ r.tarded, right?

Edit, .lm-censoring

[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago

Yes, and I know that because I too am highly regarded.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 37 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

While we're at it get rid of retina frying headlights. Sure, you can see great but I'm blind as I drive into you at night. At least make it so they don't look like point sources and can't aim upwards.

Also make the auto headlight setting the default if the car is in drive. Too many people driving in the twilight with no headlights on.

[–] svtdragon@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

If you're in the US like me, we should be aware the problem isn't bright lights; it's that our regulations don't allow for the European beam alteration tech that will dim sections at a time based on oncoming traffic.

Brighter lights are a huge boon to safety, but we need the corresponding tech to keep it that way.

[–] ctkatz@lemmy.ml 1 points 34 minutes ago

and good luck getting those regs passed with this congress and this administration. it's likely never going to happen unless the auto industry demands them.

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

People do that on purpose, there’s a huge aftermarket for 10x brighter headlights.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

New models have LED headlights and they're awful. They're angled down, but any sort of hilly back road means you're blinding anyone in front of you anyway. Halogen are much better because it's a softer glow instead of a laser beam.

[–] torrentialgrain@lemm.ee 35 points 13 hours ago

common EU w

[–] wall_panel_96@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

Less screens? Why does a car even need one screen?

[–] tty5@lemmy.world 11 points 5 hours ago

The mandatory in EU reversing camera.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 14 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

You can prise my windscreen from my cold dead hands.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

You afraid of getting bugs in your teeth? Coward. ^/s^

[–] teft@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

The rate of decline of insects in the last few decades is quickly making that a non-issue.

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[–] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 7 hours ago (9 children)
[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 6 hours ago

Those things would be way more useful if they had a wider FOV. I hate how most people now use them as the only way of checking behind them when backing up, because you really can't see shit well enough for that. It's meant for seeing something small and close that even physically turning around to look, you wouldn't see it. Like an animal or a child directly behind you.

All they've done is make people drive less safe because so many people just stare at the fucking camera screen instead of actually turning their head and checking their blind spots.

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 13 points 13 hours ago

"Don't stare at your phone but instead stare at this screen that controls your car."

[–] ctkatz@lemmy.ml 41 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (3 children)

sounds like europe is really sending a very loud, deafining FUCK YOU to elon and tesla.

and I am absolutely here for it.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 38 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

While this does fuck him, it's also sound safety science. Touch screens have made cars less safe. It just so happens that Musk's company makes shitty unsafe cars which got rid of buttons to cut costs.

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

Not just them, but a lot of the car platforms coming out of China right now, including Volvo cars. I have an EX40, which has a lot of physical buttons, and a physical lever for the glove compartment (🤯), but when I tried the EX30 I was blown away by the poor driving experience. So crappy. Everything is done via the screen, and it sucks. Not even a speed indicator in front of the driver, but you have to glance over to the center screen.

Also the one-pedal drive was really bad on the EX30, but that's another story. I also hated the gear lever behind the wheel instead of a stick between the driver and passenger seat.

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[–] Mad_Punda@feddit.org 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Wait, which car models lack that for “hazard warning lights, indicators, windshield wipers, SOS calls, and the horn”?

Don’t get me wrong, I agree these need physical buttons or similar. But everyone is celebrating as if it’s for things I’ve seen hidden behind touch or capacitive buttons in the cars I’ve driven and that really annoy me, like temperature, volume, mute, and cruise control inputs. Or have I just not driven the worst of the worst (Tesla).

[–] Benaaasaaas@group.lt 12 points 12 hours ago (7 children)

Tesla, tesla lacks all of those

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 13 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Drove a new pickup the other day, upper trim model. Felt like I was driving a luxury car. Even had hands-free driving in some areas. Those parts were amazing.

Absolutely hated the infotainment and other automatic systems. A giant clusterfk of poorly designed, non-intuitive, frustrating systems that did unexpected things or took too much time to set up. The nice tech was completely overshadowed by the over-engineered junk.

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[–] Viri4thus@feddit.org 137 points 22 hours ago

Fucking finally.

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