VW pressured to bring back push-button steering wheel

WOLFSBURG: Under popular pressure, Volkswagen plans to soon abandon the touch controls on its cars steering wheels, replacing them with good old-fashioned push buttons.

In a recent message posted on LinkedIn, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer said he wants to simplify how the brand's future vehicles operate.

He gave as an example the fact that the company is "bringing back the push-button steering wheel! That's what customers want from VW."

The decision was made in response to the large amount of critical, if not negative feedback on the touch controls, delivered both in dealerships and on specialised online forums.

Among the production models equipped with these controversial touch buttons are the Golf GTI and the ID.4.

This decision to take a step back on this matter is not as anecdotal as it may seem; rather it highlights the fact that progress is not always synonymous with efficiency.

A recent experiment conducted by Swedish journalists showed that cars currently equipped with touch screens were slower to perform a range of tasks than older models equipped only with buttons and switches.