Carmakers are equipping their latest models with fancy touchscreens, but that could cause problems with Europe’s largest car safety authority.
The European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is revamping its rating system starting Jan. 1, 2026 to mandate that five of a car’s primary controls — its horn, windshield wipers, turn signals, hazard warning lights and SOS features — will need physical buttons or switches.
Car models will have to comply to get NCAP’s coveted five-star rating. The scheme is voluntary but is heeded by most automakers because it’s closely monitored by consumers.
Belgium-based NCAP says that purely digital controls are a potential safety issue.
I don’t understand the touch screens in cars, I would expect them to be more expensive than physical buttons. Are there that many people who think it’s fancy that it’s a selling feature?
Think of it this way. Cars already need an LCD panel for infotainment these days. New cars that lack them get passed over. At the very least, people want CarPlay and Android Auto for maps and music.
Secondly, physical switches and gauges haven’t been dumb analog or electric circuits for years. They all communicate with the car’s onboard computers.
So, if the car already needs a touch screen, and all the garages and switches are digital behind the front end anyway, it’s going to be cheaper to make the gauges out of software than plastic.
And with display panels getting cheaper and cheaper, you can slap a bigger panel in the car, and still save money on manufacturing.
I’m happy with a Bluetooth connection to the stereo. I have maps on my phone.
Fuck carplay/android auto in the ear.
I hate getting a rental car and I just want my music, but it tries to hijack and download my whole phone.
I want to get in, connect my phone and go. Not 20 minutes wrestling it for control.
Digital displays are fine. It’s just a display. But controls should be manual (buttons, dials, etc) that can be operated with eyes on road.
Download your phone?
You wouldn’t download a phone
Not the whole phone obviously. But syncing all my contacts, recent calls etc.
I don’t know what cars you’ve driven, but I’ve never driven anything with CarPlay or AA that stored contacts or calls on my head unit. Moreover I’ve never had to wrestle with the head unit for 20 min. It usually initializes in a few seconds.
Were you using an old Android phone that had to download AA?
The car was the slow part, I have an S23+.
The wrestling was figuring out getting BT audio ONLY.
And until I reset the head unit to factory previous users, contacts, radio stations and destinations were all stored there.
Not great on a rental car.
When you try to connect a CarPlay or Android auto device there is usually a permissions dialog that appears. It asks you if you want use the projection software, or use the vanilla usb or Bluetooth connectivity. Perhaps you accidentally confirmed the Android auto connection, then couldn’t find how to revoke the permissions.
Buttons and dials aren’t cheap. Even in economy cars it probably costs the manufacturer a few bucks for each one, accounting for the switch itself and all the trim that goes with it.
It only takes a handful to outweigh the cost of the typical LCDs used in car systems.
Don’t speculate about what you don’t know about - the world is full enough with BS.
My understanding was the screen itself is the expensive part. In the US, it’s required for a backup cam. At that point it’s cheaper and easier to assemble, just having everything on the network and doing software. Physical controls take more build time