Physical buttons are back in cars: Euro NCAP isn't convinced by so many screens

For a few years now, we’ve been seeing many car models replacing physical buttons with virtual ones available on the touchscreens fitted to cars. There has been a shift from a wide variety of buttons to control the car’s different systems to dashboards and centre consoles that are almost completely free of controls.

Later, the trend changed and, faced with the presence of screens, efforts were made to ensure that certain functions return as physical buttons. The market is divided into two camps: those who bet on full control through the screen and those who favour the return, even if only partial, of physical buttons. And now, Euro NCAP joins this second camp.

Euro NCAP is the institution that assesses several safety aspects of the vehicle. Each model can receive up to five stars, based on the results of various tests. The use of screens has been questioned by the institution, which has not hesitated to give its opinion on the matter.

It is not that they are going to force manufacturers to dispense with screens or demand their replacement with traditional buttons. They have only offered the advice of returning to physical controls for certain functions that can be problematic if they are included in the multimedia screen. In this case, according to Euro NCAP, they should return to a physical format for activating the hazard lights, the horn, the windscreen wipers and the indicators.

Also in this more accessible and functional format, the eCall emergency call button, to make it easier to use. All manufacturers may or may not follow these recommendations, but if they don’t, they could receive a poor rating in the tests that assess vehicle safety.

This reinforces the idea that physical controls are more reliable and easier to use than screens. These are liable to suffer faults or breakage in the event of an accident, so they would be useless for activating things like the emergency call. Will we see screens gradually lose relevance in future models? For now, some manufacturers have already chosen to return to buttons, and it seems there will be more and more of them.