Are Automotive Infotainment Systems Causing Accidents Rather than Prevent them?

Cars, even basic ones, are getting more and more complex. Phones are said to cause accidents, but are the infotainment systems even more distracting?

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is a USA-based research centre who found that car infotainment systems were getting more distracting the more complex the system. Even the voice-activated functions such as navigation distracted drivers for an average of 40 seconds.

Coincidentally, there was evidence to support the notion that as drivers became more dependent on safety systems, their driving behaviour changed, and not for the better.

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ABOVE: Infotainment systems: Are they too distracting?

Consider this for a moment:

  • A phone call comes in and you’re distracted for a moment as you enter a school zone.
  • You’re trying to set a destination while at cruising speed on the highway.
  • You’re trying to change a radio station in a car that no longer has physical buttons.

Any one of those actions take a driver’s attention away from the main task at hand. Depending on the speed, the vehicle could cover many tens of metres in the time it takes to look to the centre console to see who is calling, or to change menu functions.

While safety features such as Autonomous Emergency Braking and Lane Departure Assist may help, when the dependence on them is combined with distraction, the results could be fatal. For some auto makers, major functions were blocked while the car was in motion, but this seems no longer the case.

Once, a simple speedo and tacho gave motorists all the data they required. Then radios, CD players, Air Conditioning, and other mod-cons were layered over the top. Now, a driver faces a barrage of input and data from a digital driver cluster and a Heads-up Display while trying to negotiate the intricacies of menu-driven systems within the centre stack.

There are function controls on the steering wheel, and centre console menus demand fettling mid-trip. In addition, warnings and ancillary information bombard the driver, often accompanied by alarm sounds.

For Example:

This week we’ve been in a VW Golf R Wagon. The system itself consists of several very simple menus. However, access by voice was sketchy at best. There are few buttons so most functions are on screen.

Navigating on-screen menus requires more concentration than were those functions on physical buttons.

Previously, the LEXUS LC500 Convertible had a similar problem. Although it had buttons, the infotainment system has a track pad that needed even more attention. Making selections with it needed a great deal of dexterity.

LEXUS’s new NX SUV has solved that by reinventing their system. It is now screen based, with extra buttons for often-used functions. Although similar to the VW, a larger screen makes navigation easier to use.

Kia Sorento uses a mix of buttons and on-screen menus. A quick glance is needed but muscle memory does the rest.

Tesla Model 3 puts all driving data and controls on the one screen located in the centre of the dash

We should be making more difficult navigation choices while stopped, but few of us do.  Using mobile phones while driving is seen to be dangerous, yet using more complex in-car systems takes far more concentration.

BMW systems have a mix of buttons and screens. Although there is a centre console control, the voice activation works well enough, and the one-touch buttons store a raft of differing controls the driver might want instant access to.

In short, fettling your infotainment system while driving could cause an accident.

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