Peter Lyon
June 24, 2025
Are you like me? Do you lean towards dashboards with physical buttons? Especially cockpits with an audio volume button and air-con switches.
Leading UK breakdown provider Start Rescue is backing those vehicle manufacturers opting to bring back physical buttons to the dashboards of their latest models.
Scrolling through on-screen menus, sometimes to perform the simplest functions, concerns many safety experts who believe this may be distracting drivers from the road ahead. Euro NCAP, the independent vehicle safety rating organisation, will be introducing stricter testing protocols for 2026, mandating physical controls for key functions to reduce eyes-off-road time and promote safer driving.
In fact, the issue has grown to the extent that drivers are even calling their breakdown provider for support after touchscreen problems bring their journey to a premature halt, with Start Rescue seeing an increase in touchscreen related call-outs.
“Our UK support centre is receiving calls from customers facing touchscreen issues. We’re receiving reports of screens ‘freezing’ and individual operations not responding with customers thinking there’s a much wider problem” says Lee Puffett, Managing Director of Start Rescue.
“We’re backing manufacturers re-introducing more buttons, switches and rotary controls. It’s welcome from a safety perspective with key equipment like screen demisting always being available with a quick click and not being wholly reliant on a touchscreen.”
Start Rescue is also receiving customer enquiries concerning ‘juddering’ steering wheels which are activated by lane assist systems or driver drowsiness and awareness alerts.
Stuart Masson, Editorial Director of The Car Expert, one of the UK’s leading independent authorities on new and used cars and motoring matters adds:
“The good news is that manufacturers are responding to customer needs. Important new cars we’ve evaluated from several major brands now offer more well-positioned buttons than before and that’s a direct result of customer feedback.”
“Motorists are also being given more choice over the alerts they receive from the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems featured in all new vehicles, some of which can be distracting like a suddenly, juddering steering wheel. The option to store your personal preferences is also a step in the right direction.”
Start Rescue believes the solution lies in a balanced approach combining easy-to-use screens with simple, physical buttons for key controls. The company is calling on manufacturers to:
- Prioritise hybrid dashboards that combine physical and digital interfaces
- Ensure critical safety functions are never buried in menus
- Allow drivers to customise alerts and display preferences
- Improve software to prevent screen-freeze and lag
CARLIST THOUGHTS
This is a story that I hope every carmaker sees—because it’s not just me who wants physical buttons to come back. Apart from making perfect sense, and being easy to use rather than having to navigate through several screens—while you’re driving—buttons just look better. What’s good to see is that some carmakers have already started to bring back buttons, having closely listened to customer needs.
