2023-04-16 19:00:00
Joysticks, levers, dials and buttons, cars have always had them. They were very complicated to start up and then to use, until the 1930s. Everything had to be adjusted, ignition advance, oil pressure, fuel pressure, almost continuously. Then, everything started to normalize, the number of orders began to decrease, but in the 1950s, Americans fell in love with comfort equipment.
In the top of the range, there began to flourish a slew of little treats, such as air conditioning, car radio, windows and electric seats, but we didn’t really care regarding ergonomics. This is where the post-war pimple epidemic first erupted. Europe has been slower to come to this, its lower standard of living not allowing it to equip current cars as richly as in the USA.
The first mass-produced French car to have electric windows was the R16 TS in 1969! Were the models from the old continent better studied from the point of view of ergonomics? Not really. That said, the layout of dashboards progressed markedly in the 1970s, especially in Germany, BMW being considered an example in the matter, achieving a kind of perfection during the following two decades. Mercedes also played the card of clarity of commands, although it should be noted that these two manufacturers refused the latest fashionable gadgets.
In France, during the eighties, Renault, in particular, followed the path of the profusion of more or less useful accessories. The R25, in particular, especially in Baccara finish, perfectly embodies this trend. It’s everywhere ! Between the stereo, air conditioning, electric windows, cruise control, inflatable seats, there are dozens of buttons! However, their layout is not as crazy as one might think. Only, until the 2000s, small refinements continued to increase in number, with, for example, the advent of GPS and cell phones, which forced manufacturers to think regarding their organization in the cabin. And not everyone came to the same solutions.
The “buttonhole” won over the most refractory, like Mercedes, which came out very badly. In terms of ergonomic nonsense, the W221 Class lands there: rows of undifferentiated controls, therefore impossible to spot, buttons stashed almost everywhere, especially in the armrests… All this to obtain a dashboard with a sober appearance, comprising also a knob for navigating through the multimedia system menus. A find that we owe to… BMW, on the 7 Series E65, and which was then widely copied. At the Bavarian, it was not too badly done, even if improvements had to be made later to the famous iDrive.
In Sweden, Volvo was particularly successful in making its dashboards both attractive and practical to use, as was Saab. In Germany, Porsche was making its way with the “one button, one control” strategy, which was much less successful, especially in the Panamera and Cayenne of 2e generation. It abounded, but at least we assumed it!
Then came the advent of touch pads, stuffed with menus, sub-menus, settings and functions that most people don’t care regarding. Some manage to make the whole thing a minimum understandable, others don’t. At Mercedes, it’s horror, and, more preoccupied with “showroom appeal” than ergonomics, BMW is following a similar trend, just like DS. In the DS4, it’s even a joyful mess!
But, the worst in the matter, it is still the opposite, these manufacturers who seek with all hair to purify the interiors. Without renouncing the multiplicity of functions, of course… Here, the summit of ergonomic monstrosity seems to have been reached by Tesla, which concentrates everything, even the glove box opening control, in a huge central screen. Activating the demisting while driving is almost dangerous!
Voice commands seem to be the beginning of a solution, but they still have to work correctly. In a Golf VIII, I asked the GPS to guide me to Magny-en-Vexin. He never understood. In short, manufacturers have a lot of work to do to make their cars easy to handle…on the board!
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