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Back to the Future: Knob buttons Vs. Touchscreens

Have you ever found yourself fumbling through a touchscreen menu just to change the radio station or adjust the air conditioning while driving? You’re not alone. In recent years, both the appliance and automotive industries have been on a quest to replace traditional switches and rotary knobs with sleek touchscreens. While this might seem like progress, many users are less than thrilled with the change.

Antonio Beasain – Piher Sensors & Controls Marketing Manager – puts it bluntly: “Drivers get distracted when they have to navigate through multiple touchscreen menus for simple tasks like changing the radio volume or adjusting the cabin temperature. One wrong tap, and suddenly you’re in a mess. Plus, if the touchscreen fails, you could lose access to your entire instrument cluster.”

It’s not just individual frustrations catching attention. Safety organizations like the European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and Australia’s ANCAP are taking a stand. Starting January 2026, they are urging automakers to include physical controls if they want that coveted five-star safety rating.

Supporting this push back to basics, Sweden’s largest car magazine, Vi Bilägare, conducted research confirming what many of us feel: physical controls are not only safer but also faster to use.

So why the preference for rotary controls? It’s not just nostalgia at play here. It’s about safety and efficiency. Physical knobs and switches allow us to adjust settings quickly and intuitively. The tactile feedback—knowing you’ve turned the knob three clicks to the right—means you don’t need to take your eyes off the road. This “muscle memory” reduces errors and prevents unintended selections. The same issues pop up in our kitchens. Ever tried using a touchscreen with wet or greasy hands? Or while wearing gloves? It’s frustrating, to say the least. Traditional knobs and switches don’t have this problem—they work reliably, no matter the conditions.
Appliance control switch potentiometer Potentiometer with strong detents

Car control potentiometer

Rotary selector potentiometer with strong detents
Potentiometer with strong detents Rotary selector potentiometer with strong detents

Reduced Chip Dependence 

There’s also a practical side to sticking with physical controls: reduced dependence on chips. Potentiometers and analog designs are easier on processors, requiring less power and sometimes no extra hardware at all. This means they’re less likely to be affected by the cyclical semiconductor shortages we’ve seen in recent years. Remember the chip shortage after the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2021? Some leading car manufacturers had to revert to older designs just to keep production lines moving.

At the end of the day, as much as we love new technology, there’s something to be said for the simplicity and reliability of physical controls. They offer a user experience that touchscreens just can’t match—at least not yet.

So, are we ready to embrace a bit of the past to improve our future? It might just be time to go back to the future.

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