As Kia continues to add more technology to its models, the Korean automaker says it will keep physical buttons in the their cabins, especially for the most common tasks.
In an interview with Autocar, Kia’s head of interior design Jochen Paesen said: “There are certain functions you need to find straight away and you don’t want to mess up, so we keep them physical.”
Mr Paesen added that some brands “get away with just digital and it works for them”, but according to Kia’s global market research “people have very basic needs” and that “if to get to a function you have to go down three steps [in a menu], that’s bad for everybody”.
Kia remains keen on adding more features to its future models, and like others in the industry is still trying to crack the conundrum of “how does the car go from being a tool where you have to learn how to use it to actually helping you and make sure tasks take fewer steps”.
The chief interior designer says that while some technology and features being rolled out by Chinese manufacturers has a “component of novelty”, he’s willing to give them credit for “pushing ideas” forward into the marketplace and finding if they are indeed useful to drivers because “you can’t learn from what you haven’t done”.
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Currently, Kia models have physical buttons on the steering wheel spokes, centre tunnel, and for some or all climate control functions. Most also feature a strip of capacitive shortcut buttons for the touchscreen infotainment system, but also a physical switch or dial for volume and turning the audio system on or off.
Some manufacturers, most notably the Volkswagen Group, have received a lot of negative criticism for removing almost all physical controls in favour of touchscreens and capacitive buttons.
In 2023, Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schäfer admitted the company’s capacitive steering wheel controls and non-illuminated capacitive dashboard sliders “definitely did a lot of damage” to the brand, and promised to reintroduce physical buttons to vehicles when they receive facelifts or new generations.
Back in 2020, Takeki Tanaka, project leader for the fourth-generation Honda Jazz/Fit, admitted: “We changed [the heater and air-conditioning controls] from touchscreen to dial operation [for the new Jazz/Fit], as we received customer feedback that it was difficult to operate intuitively.
“You had to look at the screen to change the heater seating, therefore we changed it so one can operate it without looking, giving more confidence while driving.”