> The automaker has since reverted its since on the steering wheel buttons and is looking to now claw back its reputation for something that its current CEO, Thomas Schäfer, says "did a lot of damage" to the brand.
They aren’t even the first car manufacturer to reverse on this. Do these companies not test market these things? Like, I’ve never heard of anyone actually _liking_ these all-touch controls; it’s transparently making things worse to save a few cents.
I suspect there's an element of snazzy modern screens selling well, but it takes time for the bad feedback about sustained daily usage to accumulate.
Personally I'm inclined to write this one up to a confluence of "manufacturers think people want this", and also customers think "I want this" - and reality is now catching up!
There's also customers think they want this ("this" being the change VW is now planning to give them), which I think is what is really going on here.
Later, customers will find out, but by that time, they will already own VWs, so VW will have achieved its goal. Similar pattern to dieselgate in my opinion.
Some things sell really well when new even though once people had the car makers know it was a bad idea. So you see a lot of things put on cars for a while and then when people realize it isn't as good as it looks they get rid of it. Things that people like get put everywhere.
They aren’t even the first car manufacturer to reverse on this. Do these companies not test market these things? Like, I’ve never heard of anyone actually _liking_ these all-touch controls; it’s transparently making things worse to save a few cents.