European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) — an independent and well-regarded safety body for the automotive industry — is set to introduce new rules in January 2026 that require the vehicles it assesses to have physical controls to receive a full five-star safety rating.
While Euro NCAP testing is voluntary, it is widely backed by several EU governments with companies like Tesla, Volvo, VW, and BMW using their five-star scores to boast about the safety of their vehicles to potential buyers.
“The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes,” said Matthew Avery, director of strategic development at Euro NCAP, to the Times. To be eligible for the maximum safety rating after the new testing guidelines go into effect, cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
The Euro NCAP’s safety guidelines aren’t a legal requirement, however, car makers take safety ratings pretty seriously, so any risk of points being docked during such assessments is likely to be taken into consideration.
sounds like europe is really sending a very loud, deafining FUCK YOU to elon and tesla.
and I am absolutely here for it.
While this does fuck him, it’s also sound safety science. Touch screens have made cars less safe. It just so happens that Musk’s company makes shitty unsafe cars which got rid of buttons to cut costs.
oh I agree. the thing is elon has explicitly said that he doesn’t want a bunch of knobs in his cars and they should only have a central control screen to run everything. even the backup shift device is a touch sensor somewhere around the rear view iirc (never driven one nor do I want to). I essence, an entire continent is telling one company explicitly that your cars are not the safest on the road no matter what you claim. that’s going to be a massive hit on the company’s reputation and value and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving induhvidual.
Not just them, but a lot of the car platforms coming out of China right now, including Volvo cars. I have an EX40, which has a lot of physical buttons, and a physical lever for the glove compartment (🤯), but when I tried the EX30 I was blown away by the poor driving experience. So crappy. Everything is done via the screen, and it sucks. Not even a speed indicator in front of the driver, but you have to glance over to the center screen.
Also the one-pedal drive was really bad on the EX30, but that’s another story. I also hated the gear lever behind the wheel instead of a stick between the driver and passenger seat.
While we’re at it get rid of retina frying headlights. Sure, you can see great but I’m blind as I drive into you at night. At least make it so they don’t look like point sources and can’t aim upwards.
Also make the auto headlight setting the default if the car is in drive. Too many people driving in the twilight with no headlights on.
If you’re in the US like me, we should be aware the problem isn’t bright lights; it’s that our regulations don’t allow for the European beam alteration tech that will dim sections at a time based on oncoming traffic.
Brighter lights are a huge boon to safety, but we need the corresponding tech to keep it that way.
and good luck getting those regs passed with this congress and this administration. it’s likely never going to happen unless the auto industry demands them.
More physical controls is great, so I see this as a win. For navigation and media, I don’t want to be without the screen, but I hate that my ventilation controls are 50 % hidden under touch controls, meaning I usually don’t bother to change them while I drive, because it requires looking away too much.
Drove a new pickup the other day, upper trim model. Felt like I was driving a luxury car. Even had hands-free driving in some areas. Those parts were amazing.
Absolutely hated the infotainment and other automatic systems. A giant clusterfk of poorly designed, non-intuitive, frustrating systems that did unexpected things or took too much time to set up. The nice tech was completely overshadowed by the over-engineered junk.
“Don’t stare at your phone but instead stare at this screen that controls your car.”
Driving and texting is dangerous. Put down that phone and stare at this ipad in your dash! Further the ipad is slow, designed by imbeciles, is glitchy, buggy, and not intuitive and doesn’t follow modern design standards.
cars will need to use buttons, dials, or stalks for hazard warning lights, indicators, windscreen wipers, SOS calls, and the horn.
Not enough, in my opinion. I’ve never had a car with these on touch screens, but I can’t imagine why anyone would think it’s a good idea. I’d like entertainment centers to stop being touch screens as well, but this doesn’t go that far. Hopefully they do in the future, though, since this is a good start!
Be still my heart
Good.
Next please go after the animated indicator lights that take way too much time to realise the car in front of you is turning and not playing snake. Fuck you, Audi, and all the others tha copied this absolute bullshit of an idea.
I genuinely don’t see the problem with those. Amber lights on the left side of the car light up, that can only mean one thing. There is no ambiguity there whether they’re playing snake or just flashing. I have never, on no occasion, found myself confused by those.
I find them distracting. There are useful innovations, and there are pointless gimmicks.
Huh. I think it looks kind of cool? Is it that hard to see?
It’s distracting.
I like it, wish mine did that 😎
are animated lights cool? debatable. in my opinion, kinda.
are animated lights practical? no. I actually think they’re more of a distraction. I need several use cases of where animated lights other than at car start up play an actual useful role in operating the vehicle.
car companies are going away from the practical and into the cool factor and I don’t think it’s a good thing. those huge car fins on caddys looked cool but provided absolutely no practical functionality (I even believe that studies showed it made them less safe. disclosure: I’m pulling this out of my rear end but I think it’s true).
If they could ban the “confirm you know the rules of the fucking road” dialogue box that would be great.
Finally!!!
Less screens? Why does a car even need one screen?
You can prise my windscreen from my cold dead hands.
😂👍
The mandatory in EU reversing camera.
Holy smokes. That’s nuts. I’m glad I font live there then.
The United States, Canada, and Japan have the requirement, too. Australia’s takes effect in November 2025.
Ya know what? Lets get a mulligan. Lets go back to the begining. Let’s start from the begining with vehicles again. From now on, the only vehicle allowed to be produced is the Ford model T that came out in like 1914. Every car is now that car.
No screens. No gimmicks. No seatbelts. Not even a heater or an enclosed surface. If you crash, your ass is getting thrown from the car onto the pavement! HEADS UP ASSHOLE!!! PAY ATTENTION TO THE GOD DAMNED ROAD YOU CELL PHONE DRIVING DISTRACTED FUCKCLOWN!!!
Let’s just get back to basics, ya know?
