Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand, VW, pledged to make vehicles easier for passengers and drivers, claiming touch-sensitive controls “did a lot of damage” to the company’s connection with customers.
According to Schäfer, the new VW Tiguan crossover‘s cabin demonstrates the brand’s departure from controls that have received widespread criticism for being challenging to use while driving. The Tiguan eliminates climate control sliders and haptic steering-wheel buttons.
Schäfer noted, “We had angry customers who shouldn’t have been angry.” He continues, “We’ve now spent much time meticulously reviewing all the functionalities a client typically interacts with when utilizing a vehicle.”
The automaker ranked the features that customers use to determine the design and layout of buttons, switches, and touchscreen controls. Furthermore, VW plans to be more consistent once they identify a setup its customers like.
Additionally, the VW CEO claimed, “Once you have the features, don’t touch it again. We don’t want to confuse our customers every time a new model launches and something is completely different. So, optimize the functions. Bring it into the future. But don’t change buttons from here to there, or there to here. At Volkswagen, we were always great for sitting in the car, and you can intuitively identify where everything is almost immediately.”
