Complex technology in cars

A raging debate over bloated in-car technology continues to roil our enthusiast community. Many cars have ditched buttons almost entirely (*cough* Mk8 GTI).

In a recent video, YouTube’s golden boy car reviewer Doug DeMuro takes a hard line against us button-lovers and embarrasses himself in doing so. Below is a short response to his misunderstanding of this little corner of the car industry.

I idolize Doug, but his take is preposterous — he bases his argument entirely on the idea that consumers: A) use, B) want, or C) even care about much of the technology in their vehicles, and that certain cars sell well because of the gimmicks in their infotainment systems.

First off, who’s to say people are buying popular high-tech cars for their tech bells and whistles? Without a control in this thought experiment, we can’t make causative assumptions. That’s conflating correlation with causation.

But we do have a control, and the experiment proves Doug wrong. J.D. Power’s 2023 annual car buyer satisfaction report found that American drivers are broadly sick of tech bloat, and from 2022-2023, participants’ satisfaction with in-car technology fell for the first time ever. In a 2021 study, J.D. Power also found that over 50% of car buyers do not use the advanced tech in their cars, and the market punishes automakers for overloading cars with features and then burying them in screens.

Relatedly, car companies may sell us on bells and whistles and emphasize the gimmicks in all their ads, but that doesn’t mean drivers really value them. Automaker X can advertise extensive customization (HOV lane preferences, ambient light warmth, etc) and sell the consumer on the bells and whistles, but propaganda convincing a consumer on a feature does not equal that consumer actually believing it’s good, or caring about the gimmick after the 90-second novelty wears off.

Automakers in their hyper-screen campaigns have successfully changed consumer behavior — the best way to sell a product long-term according to Art Markman, professor of Marketing and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin — to favor tech bloat. Consumers have been gaslit into believing they need deep tech in their vehicles despite not using even some of the most widely marketed features (seriously, who uses built-in navigation?).

So here’s the point: drivers don’t need a screen or a button for the high-tech junkware that automakers call “features,” because most drivers don’t need, or really even want, those features in the first place. You can convince an American that the healthiest breakfast is a five-thousand-calorie bag of potato chips (and they should have the right to choose), but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

I get why companies do all this: bells and whistles look good to investors who want to believe their product is special. But it’s a totally “lost the plot” argument to say that whatever companies do inherently benefits the consumer or represents the consumer’s desires.

Also — if most people are not car enthusiasts and just buy cars for A-to-B transportation, shouldn’t the overwrought gimmicks be even less important to them? I may be a car enthusiast, but I drive a 2017 base-model Passat S — I’m not a sports car shopper. The Passat is a fun A-to-B car and I’m glad it’s so simple.

And again, it’s conflating causation and correlation to say that the tech crap is why certain cars are popular. In the Tesla Model Y, 2023’s best-selling car worldwide, the infotainment screen may be well made and fun to use, but the car didn’t break records because drivers can change some stupid graphics option buried in a menu somewhere. According to Hagerty, “much of the success” of the Y “can be attributed to an extremely aggressive pricing strategy which saw Tesla slashing the cost of a Model Y by as much as $10,000 to undercut rivals.” Consumers are buying the Y primarily because it’s a competitive vehicle — not because it’s a fidget toy to entertain them while waiting at the doctor’s office.

I agree with Doug on most car topics, but I think his argument here displays some substantial tunnel vision. I do feel that important functions should be buttons and a screen is okay for the rest. Yeah, I like having a screen for the backup camera and Apple CarPlay. But I don’t use it for much else — and I have a strong suspicion that, when pressed, most car buyers would admit the same. Simplify cars, and bring back buttons!