Cars will need fewer screens and more buttons to earn five-star safety rating in Europe
www.theverge.com
Euro NCAP will release new testing guidelines in 2026.

European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.

While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.

“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.

The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
    41·
    17 hours ago

    I can’t imagine why anyone would think it’s a good idea

    Suposedly it’s to cut costs but I find it very hard to believe a few buttons add much cost at all. Much less at the expense of customer satisfaction. Tripping over a dollar to pick up a dime, in my opinion.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
      51·
      17 hours ago

      The button might be 1c, but you gotta wire it, install it, warranty it etc etc. It’s not as inconsequential as you might think. And there’s a lot of them.

      A screen is the screen and the wiring to the computer.

      It’s a couple skus to maintain instead of dozens. It’s 1 warranty item instead of dozens.

      Also if one piece of that dash isn’t available, one button, one wire etc, it can slow production. So a single screen can be a smoother production line experience

      edit: Also all cars are already required to have a screen for the backup camera, so there’s already a mandatory cost there. It’s not like they can just forgo a screen entirely.

      It might not be a good idea, but it absolutely will save a noticeable amount of money per vehicle.

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        21·
        17 hours ago

        it absolutely will save a noticeable amount of money per vehicle.

        I don’t believe that.

        Monroe has talked about how they removed some bolts that weren’t absolutely necessary from the vehicle, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. In that case, it’s fine. In this case I think it’s the same situation except they don’t care about driver safety. If the driver is fucking with touchscreens and crashes, that’s gonna be on the driver.

        • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
          43·
          17 hours ago

          You’re contradicting yourself LOL

          I don’t believe that.

          Monroe has talked about how they removed some bolts that weren’t absolutely necessary from the vehicle, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars. In that case, it’s fine.

          Its okay if you don’t like it, but come on dude, a screen is going to be cheaper by 10s or maybe a hundred dollars a car. Were talking 10s of millions or more saved with any company doing this at scale.

          • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
            3·
            16 hours ago

            You’re contradicting yourself LOL

            No I’m not ROFLCOPTER. We were discussing “per vehicle”.

            a screen is going to be cheaper by 10s or maybe a hundred dollars a car

            10s, yes. Like maybe 15 or 20 bucks in BOM and labor. Hundreds, no.

            Were talking 10s of millions or more saved with any company doing this at scale

            Money saved to the company, not the end user. The end user just receives a severely degraded and unsafe experience.

            I mean shit, let’s just remove all the seats, that’ll save THOUSANDS per car, right!?

          • taladar@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            22·
            16 hours ago

            You don’t genuinely believe anyone is installing and wiring up individual buttons in a car, do you? That whole row of buttons is delivered as a single unit just like the screen is and will have a single connector just like the screen does. Sure, you then have to install and test two units (screen and buttons) but that is about it in terms of extra work.

            • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              16 hours ago

              Lol of course not, but it’s assembled somewhere (with people or expensive robots) which is why it has a cost more than the simple cost of the button itself. It’s a bespoke piece of hardware specifically designed for the vehicle instead of a commodity LCD screen which can be mass produced for multiple vehicles, (edit and as I said, is already required in the vehicle for a backup camera at a bare minimum, so it’s just the upgrade cost for a slightly more expensive screen, not a screen vs no screen)

              • taladar@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                1·
                2 hours ago

                It is not as if buttons required in cars differ wildly between models, they could easily mass produce those too if they wanted to and if cost is such a major concern maybe getting rid of the stupid design team that makes them look different for every model would save a lot more money.