Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for May 08, 2023

An unqualified success

Well that’s true for me. My wife hates my car.

My car came with a 400 + page owners manuel. I decided to experiment with buttons.

Flight Engineer! I love it! And all along I’ve been calling her Navigator of the Navigator. I think I’ll give her a promotion!

I have a 21 yr old car. I can adjust anything without looking and find personal items wherever stored. It’s more organized than my house.

For a car like that, shouldn’t she have taken some lessons at South Mississippi Speedway ?

One problem with touch screens controls is that you get no tactile feedback. You have to look at the screen to find the control, and then watch for a result to your press. It is also suggested that another problem is that when it breaks down you lose all the controls and have to pay a fortune for a new screen. This isn’t really a problem for you because you have crashed the car and died because you were looking at the screen instead of the road.

My newest car is a 1973 Plymouth. What’s a touch-screen? LOL

Sounds like a Tesla. And by the way, touch screens used properly SIMPLIFY not complicate operation. One example: instead of buttons with only cryptic symbols to identify them, display screens can display a help page showing as much information as the user wants. Not just the button’s name but how to use its full capabilities. There is no need for a user’s manual anymore.

I had an ‘05 Suburban that had an early version of touch screen controls. It had a navigation system and radio controlled by screen. I quickly realized that if I didn’t want to die (or kill someone) that I was going to need to just sit in the driveway and fiddle with it until I could quickly and easily find everything I wanted. Every day I’d go out, sit in it, and manipulate the menus for 15 min or so. After about a week I could find anything nearly instantly.

I was just getting acclimated to the touch screen, then they sent an update. Now I have to learn everything all over again.

I may be mistaken, but I was told that the new pick up trucks come with a built in defibrillator so that when you are driving down the road and think how much that new truck cost you’ll be okay.

Back to the future. https://slate.com/business/2023/04/cars-buttons-touch-screens-vw-porsche-nissan-hyundai.html

Not allowed to use a phone while driving but you are expected to work a tablet while driving.

Arlo is my copilot .

Check your phone I’m sure they’ll have an app for your car’s instructions. (step by step as you drive)

I have a “plain ole” Transit 2012 cargo van for my book shop and home use. No power windows, just a roll up handle, I have a am/fm/cd player (the only reason I have a cd player is for audio books and the like. I don’t have cruise control (way too hilly and curvy where I live and drive), regular displays too. Almost wish it was a manual transmission but it isn’t. I do like the “idjit light” for tire pressure though.

Their old car went to hail, remember?

I’m glad many companies realized how dangerous having important functions on touch screens is and are going back to physical controls that don’t require looking away from the road. You want your infotanment system on a screen, fine.

According to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, manufacturers are moving away from touch screens: https://slate.com/business/2023/04/cars-buttons-touch-screens-vw-porsche-nissan-hyundai.html

Ahem. In modern vehicles the first thing you’re supposed to do is learn how to use the voice command system. Then you don’t need to worry about the screens. Remembering all of the commands is a pain though.

Also, it appears Chrysler Corp’s push button transmissions were way way ahead of their time.

A touch screen takes eyes AND fingers to operate and your eyes should really be on the road.Once your fingers learn where the radio and heater knobs are you can keep your eyes on the road.

Speaking of touch screens, lately at McDonalds, if they have no staff at the counter, you need to order at their kiosk touch screen. So we can all share fingerprint germs as we eat our burgers and fries.

This is no joke. We bought a new car for my wife in 2021, in which she is the primary driver. On the occasions that I have to take it out, I have NO idea how to get anything to work. Odometer, radio, bells, dings, lights, etc. And the kicker is – the car salesmen don’t know either. Honestly, if I were a new car salesman, I’d be sure to know what all the bells, buttons, and whistles were before I’d try to sell one.

I thought the dome light bulb blew out. I was told I had turned it off. It took two service people to figure out how to turn it on. Not a touch screen but complicated buttons and knobs on steering wheel levers.

Every once in a while on my touch screen this message pops up and I can’t use anything on it until I hit OKAY- “Taking your eyes off the road leads to distracted driving.” I’m not making this up.

I’m offended! There was no arc where she went shopping for the new car. Just think of all the advice we could have offered.

If that is really how her new car is, it sounds very dangerous. If you have to take your eyes off the road for any reason you have a much higher chance of getting in a wreck. My car is a 2006 so it has no fancy distractions.

Arlo flatters himself!

It’ll come with practice.

True dat!

Touchscreens are the work of the devil.

Touchscreens on dashboards are the stupidest automotive idea to come down the pike in a long, long time.

Well, until “self-driving” cars………

so Arlo gets to push all her buttons today

I read something recently that the auto manufacturers are going to go the other direction due to increased buyer’s dissatisfaction with the difficulties of operating the touch screens.

That learning curve can be long for people used to buttons and switches. I found myself setting everything before leaving the driveway for almost a year.

Touch pads in car are very poor design as they distract the driver’s attention. (but they’re cheaper for the manufacturer…)

Just when I’m about to touch the screen, I hit a bump and hit the wrong area of the screen. Sorry, I’m not a fan of touch screens in cars.

It’s illegal to use your phone in the car because it takes your eyes off the road… so they make the radio a touch screen add apps like navigation, bluetooth etc. and it’s OK because of the warning that flashes up when you start the car telling you not to use any of it while driving the car. Yeah, it’s like that.

Touch screen controls make no sense on a car, since you’re supposed to keep both hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.

I understand completely. When I got my new car (5 years ago, my previous van was a ’99) I sat in it a couple of days before taking it out, just to be acquainted with everything.

My God don’t buy a Tesla……Updates the car at least once a week…..

I especially like the message on the touch screen that reminds one not to take one’s eyes off the road….

I drive, my hubby turns the heat/ac on or off, and adjusts the radio stations.

Janis got a new car and Arlo hasn’t checked it out? Hasn’t pushed and touched all the buttons to see what happens? And most of all, he hasn’t mansplained it all to Janis??

Distracted driver alert!

Should’ve fixed the hail damaged one. New cars and older people don’t mix

The latest military aircraft don’t have Flight Engineers. However, they still have Loadmasters. :-)

If you think you have controls in a car or pickup, try an RV.

Touch screens are a terrible idea! They take a driver’s attention to what’s in front of them. Bad idea at any speed, especially in city traffic or highway speeds where s—t happens and happens fast! At least with buttons and dials one develops a feel for their locations & can find them without actually looking for them.

A couple years ago a gentleman, struggling with the touch screen in his one day old car, blew a stop sign and totaled both of our vehicles.

I’ve ALWAYS ridden MOTORCYCLES!!

1 – We have a 1990s van and a 2012 chevy. The chevy had a known problem which chevy is pretending it does not know about.

2 – I have always been the better driver. When husband quit his job (at my suggestion) about 15- 20 years ago, there was an agreement that we would go our own ways during the day (“or I will have to kill you” – me). This worked until the gas got rather expensive (I think this was the late 1990s). He pointed out that it made no sense for me to drive to the supermarket and then him to drive separately to the Home Depot next door to it.

This was followed by most of my accounting clients (people in their 70s and up) dying and my only going out alone twice a month – once to client and once to club meeting.

Since Covid started I had driven the distance of 3 blocks 4 times (to or from our mechanic when weather not okay for walking when vehicle dropped or being picked up), once drove the RV to/from generator shop in next county. So basically had not driven at all.

I got called for jury duty. He made me go out and drive around the neighborhood alone to make sure I could still drive!

In my 2017 Buick, I have learned how to almost never use the touch screen. I occasionally use it to change radio stations. I do not clean the screen unless the car has been off for hours, or who knows what it will decide to show me. I can use buttons and dials for most radio operations.