“Their Technology Is Unsafe” — Man Blasts New Cars, Says Lack of Physical Buttons Is Dangerous

I owned a Tesla for a bit before deciding to get rid of it when the car tried to kill me and my family on a few occasions. The manufacturer's decision to ghost me after I asked for a crash report several times didn't exactly make me want to keep my vehicle.

So, during the gas price hike crisis, which fortunately happened during a vehicle supply chain shortage, I sold my whip for not much less than I bought it for.

Not bad for a car that had 60k miles and was in an accident it got itself into (thanks so much collision avoidance assist and improperly calibrated vehicle cameras!)

I won't lie, however, that when the car was working the way it was supposed to, it was a dream to drive. The more I owned the vehicle, however, the less it wanted to work flawlessly.

This is especially true when the infotainment touchscreen decided to act up out of nowhere, leaving me and whoever was unfortunate enough to be in the car with me unable to access a host of features in the vehicle while I was driving it. Which meant I had to fiddle with my phone just to adjust the air conditioner, for instance.

So I understand Bri's (@bri.guy_ft86) frustration with newer cars and their lack of buttons. In a viral TikTok clip that he uploaded to the popular social media platform, he records himself sitting inside of a Lincoln vehicle. While seated in the "Fancy Ford," he details his gripes with newer car technology, calling it hazardous.

"You see the thing about new cars is that their technology is literally unsafe. If I'm driving like this," (he demonstrates with both of his hands on the wheel) "The vent is blowing on my hand and it's too cold." He highlights the air emitting from the AC vent that's streaming onto his right hand.

"Naturally I would move it out of the way, but no," he says, wriggling his fingers into the vent hole. The clip then transitions to the left vent. "Same thing with this side, no. What you actually have to do is you have to go to the screen here and then push the screen right here. And then you can move the vents where you want it to go."

He records himself interacting with the infotainment touchscreen centered in the middle of the car's dashboard. There's an interactive display that allows him to direct the air trajectory of the AC.

It seems like a needlessly complicated feature (similar to my old Tesla), and watching Bri work on it is a bit frustrating.

He says that the system is not only unintuitive but is extremely inconvenient and unsafe to use while you're driving.

"You have to kind of almost guess where the wind is gonna blow based on where you put your finger. The worst part is that if you're driving and you need to change a setting..."

The clip then transitions to more footage of him interacting with the car's screen. "Let's say I need to change it to defroster or something. If I take too long, because I'm focused on driving ... it disappears." Which he demonstrates in the video — after a few seconds, the screen does time out, returning him to his Apple Car Play screen.

"And I have to go back and waste more time and focus." He then shows the middle console dash, which has a slew of different buttons surrounding a large, translucent knob.

"Why do car companies refuse to just use buttons? Or a dial, for a simple process that doesn't need to be complicated?" he asks at the end of the video.

It seems like there were tons of other people who agreed with his sentiment. Like this one person who wrote in the comments section that the tactile feels allows them to perform functions without thinking as they drive.

"That's why I like buttons. Don't gotta even look, I can feel it. Muscle memory," they penned.

Another said it's this very reason why they love their particular car: "This is why I love that my Mazda uses a dial. I hate touchscreens in cars. Too dangerous!"

One TikTok user remarked that it seems like auto manufacturers are obsessed with outfitting their cars with the newest tech. However, this obsession appears to be disjointed from serving the interests of the consumer: "Between this and AI I feel like tech boys aren’t interested in what most people want."

And someone else thinks that the reason ultimately boils down to money. Instead of ordering and manufacturing a variety of different buttons folks then need to outfit their car with, putting in a massive touchscreen is ultimately cheaper.

The capacitive unit can be outfitted with a variety of different functions programmed for the car's use. But if the screen goes, drivers are left in a world of trouble. Plus, as Bri demonstrated, navigating a slew of different menus doesn't seem that conducive to safe driving practices.