- Mercedes is the latest in a string of automakers to promise that it will bring back physical buttons to cars
- But it can’t happen quickly — it’s a surprisingly complex design and approval process
“The data shows us the physical buttons are better, and that’s why we put them back in.”
Mercedes-Benz software lead Magnus Östberg told the U.K.’s Autocar last week that the luxury automaker will de-emphasize screens and touch controls, bringing back physical knobs and buttons in future designs, starting with the upcoming electric GLC that kicks off a new design trend for the brand.
Screens won’t be absent from Mercedes-Benz cars — this is the brand behind the dashboard-wide Hyperscreen, after all, but physical controls will come back, starting with “a host of rockers, rollers, and buttons on a new-design steering wheel.”
Mercedes is not the first automaker to come to this decision. Volkswagen promised to bring back buttons in late 2023. Audi has said it will move away from the capacitive-touch sliders that have dominated its steering wheels and dashboards in recent years.
Even some governments are involved. A new set of car safety rules will go into effect in the European Union in 2026 that ban sending certain safety-critical functions through a touchscreen.
The shift is more complex than it might sound. Sure, automakers designed cars full of buttons for decades before going all-in on screens. However, going back to their old ways is complicated.
Touchscreens Are Cheaper and Handle More Functions
- Changing minor parts of car design is surprisingly expensive because of validation requirements
- When buttons last dominated cars, vehicles had fewer features
Why can’t automakers just return to how they did things before Tesla spurred the touchscreen-heavy modern interior?
In part, because of cost. Robby DeGraff, Product and Consumer Insights Manager at AutoPacific, told The Drive, “The development costs of these screens plummeted over time. For some automakers, it was easier and cheaper to just throw a screen on the dashboard instead of designing a row of toggles or buttons.”
Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research at Telemetry, added, “There’s a lot of engineering effort that goes into it — to designing them, to validating all those components. And from a manufacturing perspective, it adds a lot of complexity to develop a dashboard or steering wheel that has physical controls on it.”
Your car likely undergoes more testing and validation than any other product you own, and every change is investigated for unforeseen safety consequences.
Mercedes is likely starting with the steering wheel because that’s easier than the dashboard.
The cars of 2025 and 2026 also have more features than those of a decade ago.
This week I’m testing a delightful 2025 Mini Convertible (more to come on that). On Sunday, a day of light driving, I recall using the touchscreen to change from Go-Kart mode to Timeless mode for a more relaxed drive, raise the height of the head-up display, investigate a tire pressure warning, change the tuning of the sound system, and wirelessly connect the car to my phone. The Mini is not a particularly complex car by 2025 standards.
The buttons necessary to operate every feature of, say, the current Mercedes-Benz S-Class would overwhelm a space shuttle pilot. For some things, a touchscreen genuinely is simpler.
Buttons will return. A recent AutoPacific survey found that 50% of car shoppers agree today’s vehicles display so much screen content that it’s unsafe. However, it will take time to design and test the new systems and figure out which features still require a screen menu.
