If you’ve ever hired a car, it was likely pretty easy to adapt to because of the ergonomic understanding that’s been developed over the past century. You know where the main controls are and where to look or feel. The over-proliferation of touchscreens and transitioning physical controls to a digital space has ruined that and become the number one complaint factor for new-car owners and users alike. But after years of complaining, seemingly with no recognition from automakers, the tide is turning. Now, Mercedes-Benz, one of the worst culprits, is admitting it made a huge mistake.
Mercedes Admits It “Forgot About The Customer”
2028 Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class Electric ExteriorMercedes-Benz
Automakers, particularly in the premium and luxury segments, have been putting in larger and larger touchscreens and fewer and fewer buttons. The triple-screen, full-dash MBUX Hyperscreen is arguably the most egregious interpretation of this philosophy, spanning just over 4.5 feet across the dashboard. While Mercedes isn’t going to let up on screen size anytime soon, Mercedes-Benz CEO, Ola Källenius, told Autocar that it will “reintroduce the most sensible buttons.”
He conceded that “the industry as a whole might have gone a little bit too far” towards digital controls. Digital control isn’t just touching a screen while driving, though. Mercedes was in early on the idea of voice control, which is still an awkward technology in cars.
“Sometimes you get a bit ahead of yourself and do technology for the sake of technology and maybe forget a little bit about the customer. So from now on, you will see us reintroduce the most sensible buttons.”
– Ola Källenius, Mercedes-Benz CEO
What Are The Most Sensible Buttons To Bring Back?
2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class interior detail shot of the steering wheelMercedes-Benz
Mercedes is not the only automaker to go down the road towards a buttonless interior, and there are worse offenders (we’re looking at you, Volvo). But some, including Audi via Volkswagen, have started to see the light. It would be easy to blame Tesla for going down that road first, but it was inevitable with the rise of touchscreens and voice assistants and automakers wanting to both cut costs and be perceived as tech-forward.
“We spend countless hours on UI,” says Källenius. “I spend hours every year discussing this with our engineers, and we joke it needs to be so easy that either a five-year-old kid or a Mercedes board member can use it. That is the hurdle, and once you familiarize yourself with it, it becomes second nature.” Källenius spoke of efforts to improve voice control systems, but even when they work well, a car isn’t just for one person.
Passengers don’t necessarily know the correct phrases, and if there’s a conversation going on, it has to be interrupted by something as simple as turning the air conditioning down by a degree or two. So which buttons will likely be brought back? Källenius didn’t say, but we can imagine climate control temperature and fan buttons will be the major ones, and a humble volume dial would be much appreciated, too. This is the bare minimum requirement for physical controls, as far as we’re concerned.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters
2012 Mercedes-Benz S350 Bluetec 4MATIC finished in white with black interiorMercedes-Benz
Källenius jokes about spending hours every year discussing UI and making it easy enough to use by a five-year-old-child or a Mercedes board member, but that is where the problem lies. A child can turn a dial or press a switch, but learning a user interface in a car they don’t drive is never going to be the easy option. It’s design basics that for hours every year have been wasted by ignoring, and not just at Mercedes.
Mercedes admitting it’s made a mess of things is a step forward. While it invites a big “I told you so” from customers and critics alike, it’s a positive step forward for the industry for an automaker to publicly admit mistakes so frankly and start to rectify them. Hopefully, it’s something else that will help speed up other automakers to remember that customer satisfaction is doing the basics well, not trying to reinvent them.
Source: Autocar
