CR is critical of systems that force drivers to take their hands off the wheel or their eyes off the road.
Features can encourage drivers to take their eyes off the road. Taking your eyes off the road for 5 seconds at 55 mph is like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. Multilayered interfaces can require drivers to tap screens repeatedly to dig down to submenus. The systems make it easy for an automaker to save space, but they make drivers divert attention to turn on the A/C or change the audio source. Using Volvo’s touch-screen system, a driver has to touch the screen at least twice to turn the A/C on and off.
They can be visually distracting. Big screens are a growing trend, and owners love them, but they can have lots going on. For example, some systems have navigation maps that can be “pinched” to zoom in and out like on a smartphone, or they have multiple screens that need to be swiped over to reach the correct submenu.
Touch-sensitive controls may be unreliable. The Cadillac Cue system, for example, often requires hitting the same button several times before the driver is sure the command has been received. Using the Lexus Remote Touch, drivers must carefully move the mouse to hit onscreen icons, and the normal movement of a car in motion makes that very difficult. That’s not only frustrating but also often forces drivers to look away to make sure they’ve hit the right spot.