The car brands now risk a lower Euro NCAP assessment if there are not a number of concrete push buttons in new cars.
It has been the hottest trend in the past few years – at least in the automotive industry. Because the car brands can save a few kroner per car by saving the buttons away.
But it is also a trend that has been heavily criticized. Among other things, because many believe that it goes beyond the safety of motorists.
And precisely the safety assessment, the car brands now risk being penalized if the buttons do not find their way back into the cars.
This is written by The Times newspaper.
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In an updated Euro NCAP procedure from January this year, emphasis is placed on whether a number of very central functions are accessible by pressing physical buttons.
This concerns access to the horn, the windscreen wipers, the hazard warning lights and the mandatory emergency call system.
If the car brands so much as choose that this kind of thing can only be accessed via screens in new cars, it means a lower Euro NCAP rating.
However, the organization cannot force the car brands to go back to physical buttons. The organisation's test is a guide and a piece of information for motorists, not legislation.
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However, some car brands have already read the writing on the wall. In an interview with Automotive News, BMW's chief executive Oliver Zipse says, for example, that he is convinced that the large screens in cars will be banned.
– In ten years' time they will be gone. Lawmakers probably won't allow it until then.
– If you look at how to steer a car, we think that (the large screens, ed.) is a big mistake. But the new Euro NCAP rules are a step in the right direction.
