No surprise that most of them deal with the electronic interface. It sounded like they were almost picking on Acura but then they also singled out Jaguar for the most humongous remote starters. Acura's isn't that small either. It is pretty stupid to disable functions that you may not want the driver to access but certainly a passenger should be able to do it. Also forcing drivers to click their way through stations rather than having a real tuner knob.

The Most Irritating New-Car Features | Forbes

 

I googled and read the article. I agree with what was written, but not sure why you mentioned them picking on acura. I didn't even see acura mentioned in the article.

 

Why car companies didn't hire Apple to design and build driver interfaces a long time ago is beyond me. All these car companies trying to reinvent the wheel, creating wildly different systems and interfaces is confusing and dangerous. Surprised the DOT permits this crap.

Get one system, designed by someone who actually knows something about user interface, and call it good. It would be better, cheaper, easier to maintain, and safer.

 

I didn't mean to imply that they picked on the Acura interface, merely that Acura was guilty of some of the criticisms, but then almost all of the car companies have issues, as Edmunds and Consumer Reports have pointed out, and as a result, car reliablity has suffered because of the electronic glitches.

 

Yet the same "journalists" complained years ago that there were too many buttons in cars and that it was confusing and distracting to the driver.

So on the one hand, using touch screens to simplify the controls and add lots of new features that customers want get criticized.
On the other hand, adding too many buttons on the steering wheel, dashboard, center console is "distracting" because drivers have to look all over the place to find the button they want.
Then there's the iDrive/Jog dial etc. Which are even more distracting because you constantly have to look at the screen and you have many more steps than touch screens, also get criticized.

So my take is: FUCK EM! Journalists constantly whine about controls anyway, just ignore them since they don't actually have any better ideas.

 

I don't see why Acura couldn't have a customize feature on the lower touch screen. You can arrange the ICONs you use the most on the display screen for easy access just like you do on your smartphone. My 11 MDX is old school with tons of buttons on the dash/console; but, I'm only one click away from 90%-99% of the things I need and the wife can do all the Navi stuff on the go from the passenger seat.

 

I tried to read the article, but the site snarked about AdBlocker and I that I use Disconnect" to prevent sending my browser data to other locations (15 other sites in a single second when I landed on their page.)

I agree with some who say it would be nice to see standardization, BUT, standard means stale. There would need to be a committee meeting to decide to add a feature, then everyone else would know that you are using the feature and steal the idea... Then, no more innovation and the interface would look like a coffee maker.

I like that they are all different, it makes it a differentiator. Sadly, the Acura e-package "inhales". It is slow, clumsy and talks too much.

The manufacturers should look at what the Mazda CX5 has, that one is truly well designed.

IMO,
DLMC

 

You can develope a "memory" for buttons and knobs. Not so for touch screens. What not just g'head and add a texting feature to the screen?

 

I just read my own post...and thought...now there's a smart dude.