Euro NCAP to mark down cars relying on touchscreens
Discussion
The less touchscreen systems the better IMO. Driven a few cars with them and can’t stand them, not only awkward to use but dangerous as hell. Most usage of them requires a notable amount of concentration that completely takes your focus off the road.
Personally I wouldn’t buy a car with a touchscreen only system and when it comes to climate control, I will always prioritise cars that have physical control.
Personally I wouldn’t buy a car with a touchscreen only system and when it comes to climate control, I will always prioritise cars that have physical control.
100 extra points for “the airbag”. In the event of an approaching accident, a massive airbag which encloses the entire vehicle inflates. The car and occupants harmlessly ping-pong around until coming to a stop, and may then continue with their journey, visiting an approved repair centre at the earliest opportunity to have “the airbag” functionality replenished.
119 said:
Is lane assist compulsory on new cars these days?
https://www.tuev-nord.de/explore/en/explains/improving-safety-as-standard/ said:
From 6 July 2022, this obligation will initially apply to all new vehicle types, i.e., new or updated passenger car models that come onto the market. From 7 July 2024, these systems will also have to be installed in all newly registered vehicles.
- Intelligent speed assist
- Emergency lane-keeping assist
- Reversing assist
- Emergency brake assist
- Fatigue and attention warning
- Interface for installing an alcohol immobiliser
- Event-related data recording (black box)
- Emergency brake light/adaptive brake light
John87 said:
Most new cars have an SOS button which will contact emergency services on request and also automatically if the car detects an accident. It transmits the location and connects directly to the control room who can check if any assistance required. Not sure if Teslas have this but I figured it was a legal requirement somewhere
Ah, yes. I’d forgotten that was a thing. 
AmitG said:
Me neither. Maybe some Tesla cars have the wipers operated via the touchscreen? That is the only example I can think of.
I thought that hazard lights legally had to be a physical switch anyway, for type approval...?
I don't think this will have much impact, and I think that Euro NCAP knows it. Nobody is trying to put the horn onto a touchscreen. They would have been better off marking down cars for unnecessarily complex touchscreen software, with commonly used functions (audio, climate control etc.) requiring the driver to take their eyes off the road for some time. That is surely a safety hazard.
The bigger question IMHO is whether NCAP is losing its relevance. I remember the head of Dacia saying that customers don't care about NCAP ratings any more (after a recent Dacia model got a particularly low one). He said that they are just raising the bar unnecessarily high in an effort to stay relevant and it is adding unnecessary cost. For example if there is no audible seatbelt warning on all seatbelts (including all the rear ones) then you can't get 5 stars. So you have to run the wiring harness to the rear seats and add all the switches which adds cost.
I think that at least one other major manufacturer said the same thing recently. It would not surprise me if there was a co-ordinated effort from the industry to move away from NCAP ratings.
I remember back in the day, an NCAP 5 star rating was highly coveted and a real selling point. Now virtually every car has 4 or 5 stars, people seem to feel that every car on sale today is "safe enough" and nobody seems to care much about the NCAP rating. It would be interesting to hear from car sales people if customers actually ask about NCAP these days.
As the OP, I would say these are all very fair points ^^^^I thought that hazard lights legally had to be a physical switch anyway, for type approval...?
I don't think this will have much impact, and I think that Euro NCAP knows it. Nobody is trying to put the horn onto a touchscreen. They would have been better off marking down cars for unnecessarily complex touchscreen software, with commonly used functions (audio, climate control etc.) requiring the driver to take their eyes off the road for some time. That is surely a safety hazard.
The bigger question IMHO is whether NCAP is losing its relevance. I remember the head of Dacia saying that customers don't care about NCAP ratings any more (after a recent Dacia model got a particularly low one). He said that they are just raising the bar unnecessarily high in an effort to stay relevant and it is adding unnecessary cost. For example if there is no audible seatbelt warning on all seatbelts (including all the rear ones) then you can't get 5 stars. So you have to run the wiring harness to the rear seats and add all the switches which adds cost.
I think that at least one other major manufacturer said the same thing recently. It would not surprise me if there was a co-ordinated effort from the industry to move away from NCAP ratings.
I remember back in the day, an NCAP 5 star rating was highly coveted and a real selling point. Now virtually every car has 4 or 5 stars, people seem to feel that every car on sale today is "safe enough" and nobody seems to care much about the NCAP rating. It would be interesting to hear from car sales people if customers actually ask about NCAP these days.
And Euro NCAP don't seem to help themselves with fairly vague statements so far on what the proposal actually is. However, as I say hopefully it means things are going to start moving in the right direction, in terms of assessing driver distraction -
What I do wonder is why Euro NCAP don't simply ramp up the impact tests (eg smash into a wall at 50 rather than 30 etc.) to differentiate more between crash survivability in different car makes, rather than what seems more of a box ticking (lane assist etc.) scoring system.
When you look at the devastation of head on collisions there is surely a long way to go in making higher speed accidents survivable.
)Bodo said:
119 said:
Is lane assist compulsory on new cars these days?
https://www.tuev-nord.de/explore/en/explains/improving-safety-as-standard/ said:
From 6 July 2022, this obligation will initially apply to all new vehicle types, i.e., new or updated passenger car models that come onto the market. From 7 July 2024, these systems will also have to be installed in all newly registered vehicles.
- Intelligent speed assist
- Emergency lane-keeping assist
- Reversing assist
- Emergency brake assist
- Fatigue and attention warning
- Interface for installing an alcohol immobiliser
- Event-related data recording (black box)
- Emergency brake light/adaptive brake light
dundarach said:
No need for all this crap in cars.
Deep joy especially if the driver can't disable it 
Emergency lane-keeping assist
If the car unintentionally leaves its lane, the emergency lane-keeping assist comes into play: first with a warning, then by actually taking the wheel. Unlike the familiar lane-keeping assist, it intervenes more aggressively as soon as an emergency situation has been detected: for example, it will steer the car decisively to safety if the vehicle is threatening to go off the road or wander into the oncoming traffic. According to the EU regulation, the emergency lane-keeping warning system switches off automatically if it cannot work reliably, “in particular due to deficiencies in the road infrastructure”. When the vehicle restarts, the assistant is reactivated.
https://www.tuev-nord.de/explore/en/explains/impro...
WyrleyD said:
I think Skoda are continuing to use proper buttons for major functions (at lease from what I've seen about the 2024/25 Kodiaq, the reviewer was surprised that they'd stuck with this and not gone completely touch-screen).
Having had a Skoda hirecar (possibly Octavia?) many years back with an absolute s
t show of a touch screen by the standards of the day, I suspect that somewhere in a Czech design office someone decided against making everything touch screen and they've yet to see the supposed benefit (besides cost to manufacture).I have a Kia Sportage. It has Lane assist. However, in the handbook there is a long list of things that might “confuse” it if detected. These include pedestrians, hedges, walls, signage and more. It also fails to trigger if lane lines are worn. I got this on one regular route until the white central lines were repainted.
The intelligence level needed by the system needs a lot of learning to recognise the myriad variations of objects. I think Teslas communicate back with images that are then added to the database and the cars updated.
I watched an example of why self drive cars are a good way off yet. People were shown a photo of a black cat. They identified it correctly. Then a ginger cat, again ok. Then a tabby. Again ok. Then a dog and id went ok. Not mistaken for a cat ! Humans build up this knowledge and a car system has to be taught to do so. AI might help but the danger is the systems ability needs a lot of teaching to build up accuracy and trust.
The intelligence level needed by the system needs a lot of learning to recognise the myriad variations of objects. I think Teslas communicate back with images that are then added to the database and the cars updated.
I watched an example of why self drive cars are a good way off yet. People were shown a photo of a black cat. They identified it correctly. Then a ginger cat, again ok. Then a tabby. Again ok. Then a dog and id went ok. Not mistaken for a cat ! Humans build up this knowledge and a car system has to be taught to do so. AI might help but the danger is the systems ability needs a lot of teaching to build up accuracy and trust.
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