Volkswagen Bringing Back Physical Buttons, Says Removing Them Was a Mistake (pcmag.com) 96
smooth wombat writes: In what can only be described as a no-brainer, Volkswagen has announced it will have once again have physical buttons in all its vehicles. As Andreas Mindt, design chief at the company said, removing buttons was "a mistake".
"From the ID 2all onwards, we will have physical buttons for the five most important functions -- the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light -- below the screen," he explained, adding: "It's not a phone: it's a car."
This doesn't mean touch screens are set to disappear on new Volkswagens, just that drivers will now have the option of physical controls for their most used day-to-day tasks. The new controls are set to make their debut in the ID.2all, a small, budget EV set to debut in Europe.
"From the ID 2all onwards, we will have physical buttons for the five most important functions -- the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light -- below the screen," he explained, adding: "It's not a phone: it's a car."
This doesn't mean touch screens are set to disappear on new Volkswagens, just that drivers will now have the option of physical controls for their most used day-to-day tasks. The new controls are set to make their debut in the ID.2all, a small, budget EV set to debut in Europe.
And also because they have to (Score:5, Informative)
The Euro NCAP safety ratings are changing to include a need for physical buttons for important functions of the car to get the maximum score. Any vehicle that doesn't have physical controls for those things can't get the best safety rating.
Re: (Score:3)
Starting in January 2026, automakers seeking the highest safety rating from Euro NCAP must include physical controls for five critical functions: turn signals, hazard warning lights, horn, windshield wipers, and the emergency call (eCall) system
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The most useful button I find (in a 2023 Prado), is the mic button. When connected to my phone, using Google's voice recognition, the voice recognition works great - easily recognizing my requests for setting navigation destination, calling someone etc with an acceptable voice used for prompts. Unfortunately, the car's built in voice recognition is awful though, and worse than useless - it is actually distracting because it often fails to recognize what I have asked for (say, an address), and I have to kee
Re: (Score:2)
They didn't include volume because literally every car on the market has that as a steering wheel control, even VWs. As for temperature, why are you adjusting it? Needing to touch that at any time is an engineering failure. Climate control is a thing and we should absolutely call out companies who want to pretend they are capable of creating control systems that are better at handling emergencies than real drivers, but are unable to implement a simple feed forward temperature control scheme you would find f
Re: (Score:2)
No this has nothing to do with NCAP. All the things NCAP will require with physical controls VW already has. The list isn't very big. NCAP require physical buttons for core vehicle functions, which means wipers, indicators, headlights, ecall, and hazards.
It has no impact on climate control, windows, or sound system which is what the VW announcement is about.
need more than that (Score:5, Interesting)
You need the vent-mode button. Rear defrost. When you're driving down the highway and notice the windows start to ice up you need a way to turn those on without fucking around with a giant iPad.
You need basic media keys, if the song sucks, again you need a way to change without fucking around with a giant iPad.
Basically anything that's not done exclusively at a stop should have a button. Turning off auto-steering headlights, THAT'S a function that's fine to bury within the iPad menu.
Re: need more than that (Score:3)
Giant, usually slow to respond iPad.
Re: (Score:3)
Slow to respond but is able to stack up all touch inputs to execute serially when it finally comes to life. You will pay for your impatience with your slow expensive crap.
Re: (Score:2)
This is a very good point and if it's me making the rules I would regulate that if there are going to be touch buttons they have to have like a sub 200-ms response time *at all times* no matter what it's doing, lag in a car is dangerous.
Re: need more than that (Score:5, Insightful)
My daughter prefers the back seat because the seat heater has a physical button and she can turn it on immediately. In the front she has to wait for the touchscreen to boot, she tells me the touchscreen is "retarded".
Even kids know better.
Re: (Score:3)
In the front she has to wait for the touchscreen to boot, she tells me the touchscreen is "retarded".
Get your daughter in front of more car designers, she is spot on lol
Re: (Score:3)
Remember the evil overlord list and the 5 year old plan checker?
She sounds like a good one.
Re: (Score:1)
I know it's become a bit taboo, but there's no need for scare quotes, it's the correct word for something that's been slowed down. Touchscreens are quite literally retarded by their need to do extra processing.
Re: (Score:2)
My daughter prefers the back seat because the seat heater has a physical button and she can turn it on immediately. In the front she has to wait for the touchscreen to boot, she tells me the touchscreen is "retarded".
Even kids know better.
Translation: You raised a psychotically impatient daughter who can't stand the seat being cold for 10 seconds. There's many reasons why buttons are superior to touchscreens, but that example is a colossal self-own. She's on the road to becoming one hell of an impatient driver.
Re: (Score:2)
Because when choosing between two equal paths, choosing the one that works best and most consistently is the definition of both psychotic and impatient. Obviously, the only way to be considered to be not having psychiatric issues is if you just blindly accept garbage tech pushed on you by large highly profitable corporations. It is just completely impatient and insane to think you might just leave the garage tech alone. I'll bet my daughter is so psycho from using the easy button that I shouldn't leave her
Re:need more than that (Score:4, Insightful)
If only it was an iPad.
Most manufacturers put zero effect into decent UI / UX for those things.
And they pinch pennies on the hardware.
It feels more like a Windows Vista tablet.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If only it was an iPad. Most manufacturers put zero effect into decent UI / UX for those things. And they pinch pennies on the hardware. It feels more like a Windows Vista tablet.
That sucks, but I think we should distinguish between bad design (i.e. touchscreen doesn't make sense) and bad implementation (a good touchscreen implementation is fine, but it's done badly).
FWIW, my Tesla Model S has almost no physical controls that aren't directly related to driving, and I have no problem with it. The touch elements are large enough that they require no more attention than buttons (people who believe that they can operate physical buttons on the dash without looking are fooling themsel
Re: need more than that (Score:2)
Goodness of their heart I am sure (Score:5, Informative)
And has nothing to do with the EU threatening regulation to such effect: European car safety body is coming for touchscreens [politico.eu]
Still a good thing to happen, they have the right idea but if statutory action wasn't taken (or implied) here does VW make the same choice?
Re:Goodness of their heart I am sure (Score:4, Insightful)
The German car giant’s lead designer called the move away from physical buttons in favor of touch screens 'a mistake.'
I imagine if they didn't agree, they would have claimed they were being forced against their will to change how they do things.
Their cheap EV has had them since 2023. Now their nicer vehicles get them too. Thank hell, because fuck touchscreens doing everything under the sun in cars.
Re: (Score:3)
Sure but his statement comes after that announcement.
They're a business, they are making a financial and reputational decision between the balance of (i presume) cost savings on eliminating buttons versus the negatives of non-compliance which could be reduced safety ratings, market competition (Hyundai has said they would keep their buttons all along as an example) and risk of more stringent regulations as a consequence of their non-compliance.
There was a reason they eliminated them in the first place so th
Re: (Score:2)
Also my point really is that this guy's statement is PR, the decision had already been made and we are not privy to those internal discussions so we can only surmise through their actions and the timeline.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm sorry, that just doesn't track with how corporations normally function.
I think everyone sees it as having been a mistake.
Many manufacturers have shifted their cheaper vehicles back to buttons, and started doing so years ago.
The push for touchscreens was a weird fucking perception of luxury thing.
I've often seen it peddled that it was done for cost savings, but the math for that has never checked out, and the fact that manufacturers started getting rid of them
Re:Goodness of their heart I am sure (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, but then why call it a mistake?
Makes for good PR "You fool, I planned to exactly this all along! Please don't look at all our prior actions..."
I've often seen it peddled that it was done for cost savings, but the math for that has never checked out, and the fact that manufacturers started getting rid of them on their cheaper models first backs that up as being a myth.
Maybe but I could look at this as taking advantage of existing supply lines, you see lot's of sharing of buttons and components across not just inside companies but even between them, so my theory was it was a choice to save by not having to tool up brand new buttons for new models that requires new electrics, plastic molds, wiring, etc, cheaper models could share more components with existing ICE models since the capex for those parts is covered already.
But I could be wrong and they are being genuine, it's just for me, VW is far from a company I take at their word. I am glad the EU has stepped into this, I wish the NTSB would do similar in the US (fat chance today)
Re: (Score:3)
Makes for good PR "You fool, I planned to exactly this all along! Please don't look at all our prior actions..."
I see. Under the premise that people always hated it, VW pushed it on the people, and now they want to apologize for doing so.
That's fair.
Maybe but I could look at this as taking advantage of existing supply lines, you see lot's of sharing of buttons and components across not just inside companies but even between them, so my theory was it was a choice to save by not having to tool up brand new buttons for new models that requires new electrics, plastic molds, wiring, etc, cheaper models could share more components with existing ICE models since the capex for those parts is covered already.
One certainly hopes they take advantage of existing supply lines, heh.
Designing a fresh set of buttons for every single major revision of every single car does definitely sound like wasted money.
I'm still not convinced, though- mostly because, as I mentioned, the cheapest models of cars either got buttons back first, or never lost them- and almost universally had tiny
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah sor sure the Model 3's I would say meteoric rise when it was launched definitely pushed carmakers into a copycat "hey, dont forget about us! we can make stupid decisions too! hell we predate Tesla by decades with stupid shit!" and we can pull some threads when Tesla I believe has been quite clear eliminating the buttons was a cost savings measure wrapped in "cool factor"
Re: (Score:3)
I imagine if they didn't agree, they would have claimed they were being forced against their will to change how they do things.
Well, that wouldn't be unusual. Even the Head Designer are under budget constraints.
Or he may have admitted with this words that it was his mistake. Or he may not have been in that position when that decision was made.
So there is no contradiction here.
Re: (Score:2)
Mandate comes after shift at VW in their cheaper vehicles.
Engineering says original shift was mistake.
Mandate happens.
Slashdot:
Change was made because of mandate!
Re: Goodness of their heart I am sure (Score:2)
Mod up whoever can. The article quoted above is a very interesting read. Talks about not just buttons but screens in general, and other safety features.
Who on Earth allowed Tesla to get rid of indicator toggles??
The idea about cameras watching the driver at all times is a massive invasion of privacy and an overblown babysitting attempt.
Re: (Score:3)
Who on Earth allowed Tesla to get rid of indicator toggles??
Vehicle design regulation in the US is kind of all over the place, there's a lot of explicit things but there are also a lot of vague directives and loopholes to found
Very interesting video on that regualatory topic here: The Senseless Ambiguity of North American Turn Signals [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Goodness of their heart I am sure (Score:2)
Nah. The self-driving car will just take over and drop you off at the police station itself.
Probably not (Score:2)
The vast majority of vehicles have always complied with those rather limited rules anyway (eg indicator stalks). IMO this has far more to do with bad press about VWs hopeless touch interface in the last few years, more so than other manufacturers.
Still, whatever the reason for the outbreak of common sense it can only be a good thing.
Re: (Score:2)
And has nothing to do with the EU threatening regulation to such effect: European car safety body is coming for touchscreens [politico.eu]
Yes you're right it has nothing to do with it. Read the article you linked, and read what VW announced. There's literally zero overlap in the functions VW is talking about and NCAP is talking about (all VWs currently on the market already meet those NCAP requirements).
Voice command (Score:3)
Volkswagen Bringing Back Physical Buttons, Says Removing Them Was a Mistake
While I certainly applaud the Lazarus like re-appearance of physical buttons from the land of dead ideas, I've found voice commands to be an adequate substitute for physical buttons. Your opinion may differ, it doesn't make either one of us wrong.
Re:Voice command (Score:4, Insightful)
What happens when you're sick and lose your voice? Or maybe go to a concert/sports game and yell too much? Or have obnoxious passengers who won't shut up, or like to mess with things (think children). Voice controls can sometimes be ok (I use them on my hands-free device while driving), but for a great many things they fail miserably. Last thing I want is "tttuurrnnn. onn.nnn the... seatt... heatttter... its... f'ing.... cold..." followed by "I'm sorry, I'm programmed not to respond to those words. Would you like to have a friendly conversation about the weather?"
Yeah, no thanks. Give me my physical buttons and knobs, and a real handbrake and manual transmission while you're at it. I'm currently looking at a Subaru BRZ because it's one of literally only a few models on the market that still has all those things.
Re: (Score:2)
What happens when you're sick and lose your voice?
I think I can get buy without changing the radio station.
Or have obnoxious passengers who won't shut up
Then the touch screen is not the safety concern you have right now.
Last thing I want is "tttuurrnnn. onn.nnn the... seatt... heatttter... its... f'ing.... cold..." followed by "I'm sorry, I'm programmed not to respond to those words. Would you like to have a friendly conversation about the weather?"
I can make up scenarios too. But yours is spectacularly silly. If you get in the car and it's that cold you probably want to turn on the heater quickly. In which case what's the problem with using the touch screen? It's not like it's a safety issue. But hey your situation is weird anyway. When it's that cold outside I don't use the touch screen or the voice chat, I use my phone... that
Voice doesn't work well in my car (Score:4, Informative)
Thats not an opinion, its a fact. Even simple commands like "radio on" can take 2 or 3 goes , as for setting the satnav, just forget it, its never once got the address correct.
So great for you that yours works, but you're not everyone.
Re: (Score:2)
Because all voice recognition systems are equal in their effectiveness, right? I mean, every single car on the road with voice command capability all use the exact same code and all perform exactly the same, right?
My car has no problem with satnav from voice. "Navigate to ${DESTINATION} in ${CITY_OR_NEIGHBORHOOD} basically works every single time I use it, in both of my cars. Same for my wife.
Don't buy cars with shitty software, if functional software is important to you.
Re: Voice doesn't work well in my car (Score:2)
I buy cars based on looks, efficiency, performance, space and comfort. I dont give a fuck about voice recognition because I'm not gen z. I'm just pointing out that not all VC works well. So you got a car that it works in, well get you, go pop some champagne hero.
Re: (Score:2)
Thats not an opinion, its a fact. Even simple commands like "radio on" can take 2 or 3 goes , as for setting the satnav, just forget it, its never once got the address correct.
So great for you that yours works, but you're not everyone.
That's not a fact of the technology. That's a fact of either the car or you. The basis of technology in general is just your opinion, and I literally can't agree with any of the examples you've listed. And as someone who grew up in many different countries I have one of the most fucked up accents known to mankind, the kind where no one can figure out where I'm from but everyone agrees the answer is "not here". So literally no voice control system out there is trained to suit my voice.
What are you doing wron
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, so the voice directions should just let you miss turns because someone in the car won't shut up. That's definitely better.
Re: (Score:2)
Either speaking them or listening to them.
Do neither. Drive the car. That's your job. And if you do have company in the car the entire safety issue becomes non-existent as the passenger can use the touch screen rendering the discussion moot.
Re: (Score:3)
oops slashdot eat my quote tags
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
While I certainly applaud the Lazarus like re-appearance of physical buttons from the land of dead ideas, I've found voice commands to be an adequate substitute for physical buttons. Your opinion may differ, it doesn't make either one of us wrong.
Like Siri is an adequate substitute for buttons on your phone, but does not make it any less phone-like.
ADHD (Score:2)
The very last thing I'd ever buy is a car with a laptop screen.
My car has a minimal 4" screen for the radio with all sorts of travel statistics options and I have everything turned off but the clock set to amber.
My parents bought a new hybrid recently... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: My parents bought a new hybrid recently... (Score:3)
Don't forget the crank [youtube.com].
Re: (Score:2)
...they only chose it because everything inside had physical buttons. They shopped several brands before they found *one*. And the salesman was like "Yeah, we get that a lot".
I thought the same thing but didn't find the option. Ultimately though I found adapting to be a better option than limiting myself. I didn't try desperately to find a car with temperature control buttons, I found a car with climate control that works (and I literally have not adjusted the temperature once in the past year, not in the height of summer, or the cold of winter, it's just set to 23deg). I didn't try and find a car with buttons for the radio, I found a car with a button for the voice commands an
You insensitive clod! (Score:3)
"It's not a phone: it's a car."
My phone has buttons.
Re: (Score:3)
Yeah, they looked at a phone and drew entirely the wrong lessons
Hyundai got it right.. (Score:3)
The new Hyundai I just bought has the giant Ipad that can control everything, but they also put in old-fashioned buttons for the important things like ass warmers. I don't have to take off my gloves (or buy those special gloves with the "touch fingers") to control most things.
Re: Hyundai got it right.. (Score:3)
Damage done (Score:1)
May be too late for those guys already, expensive, cheap made, and nanny crap everywhere, thanks but no thanks.
Stop Drooling - It's Still Digital (Score:2)
Lot's of people love their analog controls, but don't get excited. These will be Midi Controllers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI) communicating via a network. But diced finely enough, anything digital can seem analog - just ask any quantum physicist. Or streaming service.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It goes beyond MIDI, the future for cars is Automotive Ethernet: The In-Vehicle Networking of the Future [keysight.com]
"What's the subnet of your crank position sensor?"
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Physical buttons were CAN a long time before touchscreens came on the scene. Decades. The ECUs that run them were very reliable. And the point is a physical button is just a better UI. whether it's an ECU behind the scenes communicating over CAN, or a rats nest of relays, diodes, and wires, this is still ultimately a good thing for usability.
Re: (Score:2)
All of the buttons on each of my doors connect to a local in-door controller that connects back to the main ECU via CAN- each button with its own CAN address.
It's a 2011.
I'm pretty sure my 1999 did the same thing.
In unrelated Volkswagen-News... (Score:2)
https://www.tagesschau.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/volkswagen-currywurst-rekord-100.html [tagesschau.de]
It turned into a Food Store.
In 2024, VW produced and sold more Curry-Sausages than cars. (Combined number of cars and trucks over all VW-owned brands)
Re: (Score:2)
I bet they made more money on cars than on Curry-Sausages.
(There is a reason why the sell so many: The Curry-Sausages at Volkswagen really are very good.)
Re: (Score:2)
They both look delicious though so I've added them both to my list. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thank goodness. (Score:4, Funny)
My wife and I rented a car recently in Australia which had a touch screen and a row of useless buttons below it. To change the temperature in the car if you were displaying a map using Apple Carplay was (a) hit the home button (to close Apple Carplay), (b) swipe left (to bring up the secondary row of navigation items; the primary row was radio, carplay, and something else I don't remember), (c) tap on the "Environment" button, then (d) adjust the slider on the touch screen (whose touch point required you to actually touch the slider, not just tap the bar for 'up' or 'down'.)
All operations (except the first) were done through the touch screen. Often while traveling down a bumpy windy road at 80km/h. All without any sort of tactile or auditory feedback.
And notice to switch back to Apple Maps (so we didn't get lost), you'd have to press the home screen, then press the "Apple Carplay" button.
Thank God car makers are either coming to their senses, or are being dragged kicking and screaming back to their senses.
Re: (Score:2)
My wife and I rented a car recently in Australia
.
.
Often while traveling down a bumpy windy road at 80km/h.
Everything in Australia is trying to kill you.
Re: (Score:2)
To change the temperature in the car
Why are you changing the temperature in a car? We live in a world where cars are borderline self driving. Which car did you get which couldn't implement a feed forward temperature control loop from a standard university textbook and couldn't keep a stable temperature without you having to worry about it?
That said this is one of the primary problems with Apple Maps and Android Auto. They take over the infotainment system. Integrated systems function much better with the car itself. E.g. not that I ever need
Similarly with GM (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The touchscreen in the ID3 suffers from the same issues that many cars have. It looks like someone glued a cheap iPad knock-off to the dashboard. It's not particularly responsive, although not terrible. The UI isn't well thought out. It's also rather small so you can't display too much at once, which alleviates a lot of the issues with touch UIs by eliminating mode switching.
DON'T TOUCH (screen) ME, BRO! (Score:2)
I need more caffeine, so I am not going to preview this. My apologies in advance if thI ramble, use poor grammar, etc.
I'm very glad to hear this, and I hope that Audi and other brands within the group also do this. I would naturally love for all auto makers to go back to a similar setup to my 2012 Audi Q5:
HVAC
Auto mode available, but buttons for defrost, A/C, recirculate. Separate buttons around knobs to choose what mode/option you are adjusting (temp is default-no button pushh) vent to outpunt to, fan lsp
Might as well bring back.... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Good. Now Microsoft and Google (Score:2)
We need UIs as they were, with:
- Raised buttons.
- Sunk text entry fields.
- Clear window borders.
On behalf of the people of the world: Thank you.
Re: (Score:3)
They will never do this. These shitty UIs layouts mean that you spend more time interacting with the UI. That means they have more opportunities to serve ads. Microsoft and especially Google make a pile of money from ads.
Was bad cost cutting. (Score:2)
Once you already have a screen in the car, every physical buttons cost money to add, when you could instead make the screen touch and save all that cost.
They only took away the buttons to save money. No one wanted them gone, we all wanted physical buttons. Easier to find without looking away from the road, easier to tell you activated the button and how much you turned the dial.
They did this crap even on luxury cars where they charged you more money for leather seats but 'saved' you money on no buttons.
Re: (Score:2)
Weird.
Sister's Q60? Huge screen, couple buttons, no knobs.
Daughter's bottom of the line Altima?
Little screen, lots of buttons, knobs.
They didn't get rid of buttons because it was cheaper. They got rid of them so that they could look like a Model 3.
Don't forget the... (Score:2)
...windshield wipers
Fumbling around a touchscreen in traffic, on a rain slick road with decreasing visibility is never a good idea
It's been ages since I've said this... (Score:2)
One in a series of design mistakes in newer cars (Score:2)
I'm gratified to see buttons returning to dashboards. It's a safety thing. Perhaps manufacturers will also reverse some other mistakes where greater technology has brought worse performance, at least in the US:
1. Thermostats replacing simple heat/cool settings. In the old days, you just set the interior heat with a simple dial. That meant in the winter, you could have warm air blowing on your hands all the time. Newer cars have thermostats that try to maintain the interior at a particular temperature. In wi
Re: (Score:2)
I'm gratified to see buttons returning to dashboards. It's a safety thing. Perhaps manufacturers will also reverse some other mistakes where greater technology has brought worse performance, at least in the US:
1. Thermostats replacing simple heat/cool settings. In the old days, you just set the interior heat with a simple dial. That meant in the winter, you could have warm air blowing on your hands all the time. Newer cars have thermostats that try to maintain the interior at a particular temperature. In winter, once the interior reaches the set temperature, the system begins blowing cold air on you. Grrr.
It fails the other way too, when you get into a hot car in summer and the car thinks "wow, it's hot in here" then turns the blower up to maximum, before the A/C has had time to cool down. Now you're sitting in a fan-forced oven.
I agree that thermostats in cars are stupid. Nobody cares if it's 22 degrees or 23 degrees, they care if it's "too hot" or "too cold." And if it's winter, you want hot air. In summer, you want cold air. After 10 minutes of so of driving, THEN you might need to fiddle the knob to some
Re: (Score:2)
In winter, once the interior reaches the set temperature, the system begins blowing cold air on you. Grrr.
Shouldn't.
Cars have what are called "blend doors" precisely so that they don't do shit like that.
The air coming out of the vent on any modern car should be the set temperature, or in the direction of the set temperature.
If it has to autocorrect by blowing cold air (meaning it overshot the set temperature), then that's a poorly designed system, or something is wrong with it.
Neither my car, my wife's car, or my last car did this.
80 years ago (Score:2)
Motorola made the pushbutton car radio so people didn't have to look down to tune to their favorite station.
But the new generation always knows better, so their new cars had to put the new paradigm right up front without consulting any actual users.
Great job, guys. Stoopid with two "o"s.
hurray (Score:2)
Hurray for VW. However, removing VW was not a mistake, buttons notwithstanding.
Now bring the TDI back to the US (Score:2)
And a small pickup.
THIS (Score:2)
Shameful (Score:2)
Wow they didn't have a physical button for the hazard lights? Crazy. Just what you need to do during an emergency, fiddle around on a touchscreen...
What a world! (Score:2)
Nissan Ariya (Score:2)
The buttons even have a haptic feedback, just a pity you can't feel where the buttons are, you still have to take your eyes off the road to find them.
Some owner has 3D printed a sort of screen that fits over the otherwise flat surface of the buttons so without looking you can feel the right place.
B.t.w, I bought the Ariya because I heard of the abominable VW screen.
Some background info about VW here: (Score:2)
They went completely mental with getting rid of buttons. Not just on the dash, but everywhere. It go to the point where they replaced the 4 toggles for moving the windows in the car with 2 toggles and a touch sensor switching between front and back.
VW seemingly has been trying to out Tesla Tesla in an attempt to make a car unintuitive and difficult to use.