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Print 27 comment(s) - last by Trisped.. on Jun 8 at 5:15 PM
Company has modified its approach for the F-150

In our coverage of MyFord Touch's arrival in the F-Series of trucks from Ford Motor Comp. (F) you might have noticed that the touch driven climate controls had a familiar backup -- physical knobs.  Ford insisted that this was just because truck users had the tendency to wear heavy work gloves.

While that might have been part of the reasoning, Ford in a new interview with Wired admits that customer feedback on touch-only climate controls has been less than glowing.  The magazine cites a spokesperson as saying there is approximately a "50/50" split of positive and negative reviews on the feature, found in the Explorer and Edge -- both of which lack traditional physical climate control knobs.

[[[  Update: 
Wired goofed.  The 50-50 figure was referring to customer conversations in an informal context, not an overall approval rating as their story suggested.  The split was suggested by the Wired writer in a conversation with a Ford spokesperson, who acknowledged the figure -- from informal discussions was in that ballpark.  However, the actual numbers may be quite different, and Ford argues many customers are perfectly happy with touch-only.]]]

Fifty percent Substantial disapproval is pretty troublesome, but Ford is remaining quiet on whether the return of physical knobs in the F-Series' MyFord Touch distribution is indicative of an overall direction, or simply an isolated choice.

MyFord Touch
Climate knobs are included in the F-Series. [Image Source: Jason Mick/DailyTech]

J.D. Powers and Associates was scathing in its assessment of MyFord Touch, and much of the negativity focused on the touch-only climate controls.  It quoted one customer as calling the controls "difficult [and] unsafe to use while driving."

Ford has defended itself, saying to us in past statements that its own internal research has shown the controls to be safe and pointing out that customers also have the option of using voice comands while driving.

There are some advantages to the touch approach.  It eliminates breakable moving parts and frees up space in the center console design.  And by giving customers the ability to tune to a specific temperature in degrees, users can give clearer objectives, versus typical heat or fan speed knobs that can frustratingly overheat or underheat the cabin.

On the other hand, many customers' muscle memory is tuned to physical controls, and further, there's no tactile feedback when tuning the temperature on the touch-screen.

Whether its long term plans include a change in direction in terms of climate knobs, Ford's new update to MyFord Touch definitely goes a long way towards making touch-only controls a better option.  It flattens the menu structure, adds improved help, and adds more command aliases -- all of which make using the MyFord Touch style climate controls faster and easier to learn.

Source: Wired


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I believe it.
By NellyFromMA on 6/6/2012 4:15:20 PM , Rating: 4
Touch screen's really don't work unless you can explicitly pay attention and look at where you are interacting. You lose a sense of where your fingers are actually interacting with and have no 'real' feeedback (I personally don't get anything out of haptic feedback other than a vibration which could have resulted from erroneously clicking anyways).

Touch screens in a vehicle just aren't a great idea from a usablity perspective. Lets face it, if the interface reads out "please ensure the vehicle is at a complete stop before using" then already you've gone several steps back in the usablity dept.




RE: I believe it.
By MrTeal on 6/6/2012 4:42:39 PM , Rating: 4
These touchscreens are a horrible idea in a vehicle, in my opinion. With standard knobs it's pretty easy once you've driven the car a bit to just reach down and use the control without even looking at the panel. That's doubly true if the road your on is rough at all; with a traditional panel you just have to use the knob to steady your hand while you use the controls. Try using a touch screen on a gravel road or rough street and it almost requires full concentration to stab the right location on the screen while your finger is bouncing around.


RE: I believe it.
By Master Kenobi (blog) on 6/6/2012 4:55:31 PM , Rating: 2
I have to concur and other automakers have caught on to this. Prior to 2009 my old Acura TL had a touch screen for the nav system and other gizmos. Fast forward to my current car 2009 Acura TSX and they removed the touch screen on their entire lineup. From 2009 onward they switched to have a directional nob (a decent sized one at that) to use the nav system. If you pause at any point it will read off the current highlighted item if the car is in motion, saves you from having to read the screen. Of course it also offers voice commands for pretty much anything, including all of the multi-zone climate controls.

For the time being touch screens just aren't practical for use in cars.


RE: I believe it.
By AssBall on 6/6/2012 5:08:54 PM , Rating: 2
Plus since you can't text and drive, the next step will be you can't dick around with your touchscreen and drive, or talk to your car while driving.

What's next, no roadhead?


RE: I believe it.
By Spuke on 6/6/12, Rating: 0
RE: I believe it.
By AssBall on 6/7/2012 9:33:46 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I thought it was funny.


RE: I believe it.
By NellyFromMA on 6/8/2012 9:14:15 AM , Rating: 2
ahaha, he said "head unit" in response to no roadhead. Happy Friday


RE: I believe it.
By Targon on 6/8/2012 8:57:52 AM , Rating: 2
The SYNC system already supports reading text messages for you, which helps. Voice to text messaging is something that isn't too far off. Voice commands also eliminate many of the issues with touch screen controls.


RE: I believe it.
By Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer on 6/6/2012 7:38:25 PM , Rating: 2
Not that I would ever text while driving, but on my old clamshell I could pretty reliably text without even looking at what I was doing. There's basically no way to text on a touchscreen-only smartphone without having to look at the screen--though, in private situations (similar to [but TOTALLY distinct from o_O ] being alone in your car) the voice recognition on my phone is sort of decent.

Given that, the idea that touchscreens are superior to physical controls in situations where your eyes need to be elsewhere seems sort of ridiculous to me. Even though it's been the fashion for years for high-end electronic devices to be controlled primarily through a touchscreen, I think it should be pretty obvious to anyone who is paying attention that actual physical feedback can greatly enhance the usability of electronic devices, whether we're talking about a cell phone or the center console of a car.


RE: I believe it.
By cyberguyz on 6/7/2012 6:29:13 AM , Rating: 4
Cute gimmick, but I live in a location where the temperature can get below -20C in mid winter. Other places get a lot colder.

Touch screens & gloves are not the best playmates. And LCDs get decidedly sluggish under really cold conditions. Get at -25c to -30c and you find they don't work at all.

When dealing with heater controls, it is when you first start the car on that cold morning when you are going to want your heater controls as responsive as possible without taking off your gloves. Brrrrr!


RE: I believe it.
By Dr of crap on 6/7/2012 10:02:41 AM , Rating: 1
You and I are the exception. They DO NOT build cars for those of use that live in the tundra. Can you see a Leaf or even a Volt in you area in the winter? Rage reduced to a few miles - HA!

I have to agree.
Moving car controls to touch is bad in any environment!


RE: I believe it.
By NellyFromMA on 6/8/2012 9:15:11 AM , Rating: 2
Sliding on the ice enhances MPGs :)


RE: I believe it.
By haukionkannel on 6/7/2012 9:27:27 AM , Rating: 2
Indeed. There are in development screens that give haptic feedback, so you not have to look your fingers, but physical knobs are so much better in that area. When you are looking map, you have to look the map, so it is not so bad (untill we get HUD map in windscreen and can use questures like in Kinetic :-) to mahe your choises it will be relevant technology, but for everything else sliders and knubs please!


RE: I believe it.
By Trisped on 6/8/2012 5:15:34 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Touch screen's really don't work unless you can explicitly pay attention and look at where you are interacting.
I use a few touch screens without looking at them. The trick is to keep one finger touching something off screen (like the frame) and then memorize where the buttons are. Since the device also tells you what button you pressed, you can easily determine if you pressed the right button. Compared to the traditional buttons and dials this is actually an improvement (you know if you did something wrong with out having to look).
In most cases I would expect the better option would be to use the integrated voice control. You could also enable a multi-touch screen where pressing with one finger, then a second will open a radial menu orbiting the first finger. Then use the second finger to move through and select options in the list (using audio feed back to indicate the name of the current option).

So no, I do not think the MyFord Touch is a distraction to the driver, the driver just needs to learn how to use it correctly.


I think you mean...
By Motoman on 6/6/2012 4:21:55 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
It eliminates breakable moving parts and frees up space in the center console design.


It introduces a huge breakable LCD screen without which you lose vast amounts of functionality, previously provided by knobs and buttons that took up less space than that huge LCD screen.

I haven't seen or tried such onscreen controls in a car...but I can testify to trying to use the huge pop-out LCD screen on my stereo to try to adjust things while driving...it's not safe. Nor convenient.

Technologically cooler? Sure. Better? No. New is not always better...sometimes it's worse.




RE: I think you mean...
By MozeeToby on 6/6/2012 5:19:21 PM , Rating: 2
There's a lot of valid complaints about these displays but taking up too much room just isn't one of them. A touchscreen can be reconfigured with software, there's virtually no limit to the amount of functionality one can display. Don't know about durability, they simply haven't been common long enough to say if they're going to be better or worse than the knobs and buttons; though I will say I've yet to see a broken touchscreen and I've seen lots and lots of older cars with broken knobs.

The primary problem is you basically have to take eyes off the road to use it, something that is absolutely untrue for knobs and buttons. Even in an unfamiliar car it's trivial to glance at the controls, remember where the one you need is and reach out for it. It's just not possible with a touch screen, especially with a car in motion over any kind of less than absolutely perfect terrain.

Keep them for navigation, information, and configuration; activities that are usually or at least commonly done at a stop. But they need to go away for radio and climate controls that the driver is going to want to tweak frequently.


RE: I think you mean...
By Dr of crap on 6/7/2012 10:06:39 AM , Rating: 1
Sorry - do you live around apes?
I not seen any broken knobs.

And yes a 6-7 inch screen does take up more room than 3 knobs for heater / AC, air direction, and fan speed.


RE: I think you mean...
By Targon on 6/8/2012 9:10:13 AM , Rating: 2
Touch screens consolidate the interface for not just climate control. Radio, climate control, plus you now have things like back-up cameras, GPS, hands free calling(phone). From that point of view, an 8-inch touch screen DOES end up saving space overall, compared to having all those buttons.

It would be like saying a desktop computer takes up more space than a game console, where if you ONLY do one thing with what is available, it makes more sense to get a console, but the more you do, the more sense a desktop computer makes.

In my own car, which has the old SYNC system(without touch screen), there is the keypad for phone number entry that takes up space, the buttons for the entertainment system(radio, CD, Aux, menu, etc), and on top of that, you have the display for the climate control and such. Going to a 8 inch touch screen WOULD be a space saver with all of these elements.

I've seen broken knobs in cars as well, generally on the lower quality units, but it may be that those who wear gloves push harder than those who don't, and that leads to pushing harder on the knobs and controls.


RE: I think you mean...
By jimbojimbo on 6/6/2012 5:43:37 PM , Rating: 2
Replacing that LCD screen and unit costs thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars in the automatkers' pockets.


RE: I think you mean...
By autoboy on 6/6/2012 7:15:26 PM , Rating: 2
It costs an automaker a lot of money to replace an LCD under warranty. I'm sorry but I don't see some big conspiracy to increase profits from repairs in the switch to LCD screens. You have to re-examine yourself because there's some screw loose if you see this as an unethical profit grab.


RE: I think you mean...
By Strunf on 6/7/2012 8:40:14 AM , Rating: 2
For a auto-maker it costs little to replace a LCD under-warranty, you have to go to a Official dealer and auto-makers will pay much less for the actual work than you do... more often than not auto-makers seem to make things complicated just to stop you from doing your own work, not saying it's the case here but I've seen plenty of faulty LCD screens on vehicles.


RE: I think you mean...
By lelias2k on 6/7/2012 9:44:14 AM , Rating: 2
You can google a way to replace pretty much anything nowadays. The problem is people willing to learn do that.

No wonder we have a shortage in specialized labor in this country, no matter how much people whine about H1-Bs. :|


I am
By FITCamaro on 6/6/2012 5:29:19 PM , Rating: 2
One of the ones who don't. I want something easy, simple, and don't have to worry about it breaking.




hate
By p05esto on 6/6/2012 8:04:39 PM , Rating: 2
I have touch screen on anything except tablets. I hate touch on cameras cars and basically everything. I have human fingers that like physical 3 dimensional controls to grasp and use. I don't even like phone touch features, I long for good ol phones with physical buttons you could push and know you hit the right number. These new touch phones I'm constantly typing the wrong numbers.... it freaks me out.




Change
By LancerVI on 6/7/2012 2:00:57 AM , Rating: 2
Ultimately, people resist and even hate change. I think it's as simple as that. It's unfamiliar and different.




UI needs work
By vapore0n on 6/7/2012 7:53:16 AM , Rating: 2
Ive used the Sync system on a Ford SUV and part of the problem is small buttons. They pack a lot of small buttons into a screen. For example, HVAC controls, they pack AC, heater, seats, etc. Small buttons makes it harder to see and to actually click what one wants.

Second is screen inaccuracy. I wanted to turn on my seat heater and I had to click over and over and over again till the system actually responded to the button press.

Third is screen lag. Moving around screens was painful. Its 2012 people. Use any tablet as a benchmark.

Forth, very cold weather + lcd screen = very slow touchscreen. We've all seen this.

I think they should remove any type of control that was previously done by button from the Sync.




Dumb and not safe
By Burticus on 6/7/2012 4:44:10 PM , Rating: 2
I cannot imagine trying to use a touchscreen while driving in traffic. It's dumb. Plus if the thing breaks you lose a control over a ton of things in your car. Hello there $1000 shop visit instead of replacing a $20 knob.




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