Is 2026 the year buttons come back to cars? Crash testers say yes.

"It's helpful to know that the lack of physical buttons isn't just a trend pushed by designers-the bean counters like it, too. It's quicker-and therefore cheaper-during assembly to just fit a capacitive touch module that controls multiple settings or switches than it is to have individual buttons, each connected to a wiring loom. Which is why we're seeing the controls for heating and cooling the interior, the headlights, seat heaters, and more move from knobs and dials and sliders and buttons to touch panels."

"From 2026, we're asking car makers to either offer physical buttons for important driver controls like the horn, indicators, hazard lights, windscreen wipers and headlights, or dedicate a fixed portion of the cabin display screen to these primary driving functions," it wrote in its guidance of what's changed for 2026. Similarly, Europe is requiring turn signals, hazard lights, windshield wipers, the horn, and any SOS features like the EU's eCall function."

"And they're more distracting to use than physical buttons. Like Euro NCAP, ANCAP is not requiring all functions to be physical buttons, lest all our cars look like the flight deck of a Boeing 747-400, or perhaps a first-generation Porsche Panamera. That won't go nearly far enough for some, but it is at least a move in the right direction."

Manufacturers increasingly replace knobs, dials, sliders and buttons with capacitive touch modules because they are quicker and cheaper to assemble than individual buttons wired to looms. These touch controls often consolidate multiple settings onto single modules or touchscreens, but they are more distracting to use than physical buttons. Safety regulators require crucial driving controls to remain physical or be assigned a fixed portion of cabin displays starting in 2026, specifying items such as horn, indicators, hazard lights, windshield wipers, headlights and SOS functions. Automakers are beginning to respond by restoring dedicated physical controls on newer models.

Read at Ars Technica