Touchscreen car controls (2020): did it need fixing?

They Fixed It / Volkswagen and others

2020

Volkswagen and others

Before: Car dashboards with real knobs and buttons for heat, volume and hazards.
The fix: Moved heating, volume and other basics onto touchscreens and touch-sensitive sliders.
Then: VW's design chief Andreas Mindt said they would 'never, ever make this mistake again.' From 2026, Euro NCAP wants physical controls for horn, indicators, hazards, wipers and SOS to give five stars.

Half took it back

Buttons are coming back model by model, starting with VW's ID.2all.

Your call

Source: etsc.eu

More fixes nobody asked for

2012

Microsoft

Before: A Start button and Start menu in the corner of the screen, where they had been since Windows 95.
The fix: Windows 8 removed both and sent people to a full-screen grid of tiles instead.
Then: Windows 8.1 put a Start button back in 2013, but it still opened the tile screen. A real Start menu did not return until Windows 10 in 2015.

Took it back

Start menu back in Windows 10, three years later.

Your call

2016

HP

Before: HP OfficeJet printers that took cheaper third-party ink cartridges without complaint.
The fix: A firmware update, set to switch on September 13, 2016, made printers reject cartridges without HP chips.
Then: Printers started calling perfectly good cartridges damaged. HP admitted no fault, but paid $1.5 million to settle a US class action and up to $1.35 million to settle in Europe.

Kept it.

HP printers were still blocking non-HP chips in 2023.

Your call

2010

Digg

Before: Digg: users submitted links and voted them up to the front page.
The fix: Launched Digg v4 on August 25, 2010, a rebuilt site that shipped buggy and changed how stories reached the front page.
Then: Users left en masse for Reddit. In July 2012 Digg sold for about $500,000. BusinessWeek had valued it at $200 million in 2006.

Kept it.

Never rolled back.

Your call