Physical buttons are coming back to Volkswagen, with design chief promising they'll 'never make the mistake of relegating important functions to touchscreens'
Volkswagen said it plans to bring back physical buttons for key functions like climate control after a poorly received design that saw those functions managed through touchscreens in recent years.
Volkswagen reintroducing physical controls for vital functions | Autocar
Volkswagen is bringing back physical buttons | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/626311/vw-physical-controls-buttons-coming-id-2-all
On March 6, 2025, Andreas Mint, head of Volkswagen design, said in an interview with the automotive media 'Autocar' that 'all future Volkswagen models will be able to physically operate the most important functions.' He said that physical buttons will be reintroduced in the new 'ID.2all' concept model scheduled to appear after 2026.
Volkswagen has come under fire in recent years for moving many of its key car functions to touchscreens, including touchscreen 'sliders' that vibrate when touched, designed to control things like the heater or volume, but were unpopular with customers.
Minto said, 'Starting with the ID.2all, the most important functions - volume, left and right heaters, fan and hazard lights - will be controlled by physical buttons. This will be installed in every car we make from now on. People love physical buttons with feedback. We get it.'
Volkswagen is not the only car manufacturer that has made the shift from physical to digital, with Tesla and Xiaomi also adopting the technology. However, it cannot be said that the change has been well received, with industry groups proposing that 'physical buttons and switches should be reverted to reduce the risk of collision accidents,' and calling for safety to be prioritized.
South Korea's Hyundai said, 'For level 4 autonomous driving, which does not require the driver to operate the vehicle, we will use soft keys for all operations, but until level 4 autonomous driving is realized, it is safest to keep your eyes on the road and hold the steering wheel while driving,' and will use physical buttons and dials.
Automaker Hyundai announces that it will continue to use physical buttons and dials in the future for safety reasons - GIGAZINE
Mint said that touchscreen cars will continue to be sold due to legal requirements that all cars must have a backup camera, but that key functions like those mentioned above will have to be controlled by physical buttons, and that 'we will never make the mistake of putting buttons on the touchscreen again.'
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