Aston Martin has returned buttons to the cabins of its cars. He found out in a remarkable way how much it bothers people not to have them

Automobile companies pretend that by switching to touch controls for practically everything, they are meeting the wishes of customers. It’s not like that, they primarily follow their own interests, Aston Martin met the customers with the complete opposite. And it’s really quirky.

I generally have a somewhat reserved relationship with touch controls. In the case of phones, I’m already used to it, in the end it’s also the way to large displays, which are useful in many cases. But in the case of such an induction hob or even a kettle, I take a completely different view. Often, not enough is enough, and instead of having heated water, you are the only one who gets burned. It is no different with many on-board menus of modern cars, as manufacturers in an effort to minimize costs, the possibility of adding functions and a “cleaner” design have thrown overboard physical buttons of even the most used functions. Searching for them on the “touch screen” is not only awkward and frustrating, but also dangerous as a result.

The second factor in particular has already been noticed by organizations fighting for road safety. So Euro NCAP has let the world know that it will require some key features to have their own physical button, otherwise points and stars for safety will go down. However, the organization has not been completely interrupted, it is not about controlling the volume of the audio system or the air conditioning, for example. Instead, it just requires you to keep your eyes on the road for the horn, turn signals, windshield wipers, and hazard lights.

Car companies thus continue to have plenty of room to prefer mainly their own interests, but there will still be brands that take the client into account. Aston Martin probably made it the farthest among them, which even assembled a team of several people a few years ago, whose task was to drive in different cars and record their experiences with on-board systems, which were increasingly controlled by touch even at Aston.

The goal was to – remarkably and idiosyncratic – define the so-called piss-off factor. “In the last five years, we started designing everything with the user, the customer in mind. Something like this didn’t happen in the past,” confirmed brand designer Miles Nurnburger to colleagues from Car Expert.

Moreover, Aston Martin was taken over by Lawrence Stroll in the meantime, who, like a true enthusiastic driver, got along with it and expanded the team from five people to twenty. This stopped the gradual boom of buttonless control, because it became a source of frustration more and more. “That’s what the anger factor is all about,” Nurnurger continues. “When you want something, you want it immediately,” he adds. The British went in the opposite direction than most of the industry and started returning buttons to the cabins of their new cars. According to them, there is a lot at stake here: “If you want to increase or decrease the volume, change the temperature – the moment you have to enter the screen and tap the temperature, you have lost the customer,” continues the brand designer. And of course Aston doesn’t want to admit that.

The updated Vantage thus has around 20 physical buttons allowing direct access to, for example, the control of the exhaust flap. You really don’t see such a pro-customer approach today, which is why it’s actually a shame that it’s only applied by a car company that sells a few thousand cars a year. But it’s still better than nothing – if she succeeds with this approach, as she herself believes, she will easily show the way to others.

The new Vantage has around 20 buttons for the functions that the brand’s customers use most often. The British found that the lengthy search for anything in the on-board menu via the touch screen is a source of frustration that can easily make you shop elsewhere. Photo: Aston Martin

Source: Car Expert

Petr Prokopec

All articles on Autoforum.cz are comments expressing the editor’s or author’s opinion. Except for articles marked as advertising, the content is not sponsored or similarly influenced by third parties.