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.
Not in my experience. Touchscreens arrived in the late 90s, yes, but only really with transport ticket machines, and then only if complex interaction was needed, e.g. selecting destination station or something.
To this day scales in supermarkets are either a) completely passive, that is, only display stuff, because the actual weighing is done at the till or b) have a keypad you punch a number into, generally foil. Works well enough. ATMs aren’t touchscreen either they have a screen with what eight or ten buttons total to the left and right to select options. There’s Braille on them I bet it’s also an accessibility thing.
Getting away from screens, capacitive buttons have their place and I definitely rather have slightly funky capacitive buttons on e.g. a scale than physical ones which get dirt into them, foil ones which are I guess fine but still somehow revolting, or worst of all the scale using its weighing feet to figure out whether you pressed the left or right button. But generally speaking capacitive buttons have one simple advantage for manufacturers: They’re by far the cheapest option.
This probably depends on where you live.
Every super market that I go to, where I am expected to weigh vegetables and fruits myself, has touchscreens for the scales. This has been the case for many years now, I can’t recall when they changed from buttons to touchscreens, so probably 15+ years.
The bank ATM where I withdraw money has a touchscreen in addition to the old buttons and keypad. Both work, but the touchscreen has more options.