timbop

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Their criticisms are clearly from a perspective of early adopters and technophiles. They have no concept that 99% of the population is not, and wants to see familiar controls and have familiar experiences. I have almost 3000 miles on my car and still hate the stupid touchscreen fan controls - it requires far too much attention away from the road rather than just feeling a knob and turning it. Just tilting your eyes/head to the side to instantly see what's beside you in the mirror instead of having to look down, hit a button, and then see the camera view in a potential emergency is far superior.
 
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They did not like the volume dial. My wife has absolutely no interest in cars and is only excited about 2 things: not having to fill gas and the volume dial. I think it is a good gimmick that will elicit far more likes than dislikes. I like it too even though I use the steering wheel controls. I don't really like Ford's implemetation on their steering wheels though. Back of the steering wheel is superior like in my Pacifica hybrid so I like the dial which I end up using quite often.
 

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Their criticisms are clearly from a perspective of early adopters and technophiles. They have no concept that 99% of the population is not, and wants to see familiar controls and familiar experiences. I have almost 300o miles on my car and still hate the stupid touchscreen fan controls - it requires far too much attention away from the road rather than just feeling a knob and turning it. Just tilting your eyes/head to the side to instantly see what's beside you in the mirror instead of having to look down, hit a button, and then see the camera view in a potential emergency is far superior.
Of all the BEV interiors in this segment, I like the audi Q4 e-tron the most not just based on supposed premium build quality but as it is the closest to what I expect in a vehicle in regards to physical buttons, it is still not perfect with a switch to capacitive touch for some stuff but at least the HVAC controls are all proper buttons :).

With a BEV far to many designers get wrapped up in space ship interior design thinking and pushing everything to screen (the bean counters favorite) which all works fine when you are sitting in the car while in a show room going now where with your eyes glued to screen, but having to faff around on the move down the road it becomes hopeless, we have got to the stage that people are not allowed to play around with a phone while driving but doing basic functions on a screen is fine?

It could be argued that you just use the voice controls, but they are so hit and miss they lead to further frustration resulting in a bought of profanity directed at the interface that would make a sailor blush lol.

Going forward it will be interesting to see how the mach-e interior evolves when the model refresh turns up in a few years time, do they double down or make adjustments.
 

lwilliams0514

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Their criticisms are clearly from a perspective of early adopters and technophiles. They have no concept that 99% of the population is not, and wants to see familiar controls and familiar experiences. I have almost 300o miles on my car and still hate the stupid touchscreen fan controls - it requires far too much attention away from the road rather than just feeling a knob and turning it. Just tilting your eyes/head to the side to instantly see what's beside you in the mirror instead of having to look down, hit a button, and then see the camera view in a potential emergency is far superior.
Just a suggestion.... next time you want to change the fan speed try a voice command.

Try pressing the voice button (short press - Long press activates siri/android auto) and say "Climate - Increase (or decrease) fan speed". That should work so you can keep your hands on the wheel. You can also say "Climate - Max (or min) fan speed". Those are old commands from previous sync systems that should work.
 


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I agree but some of their criticism of the software and speed of the screen is founded. Ford should improve this over time. Comparing to Tesla is fine but this is Ford's first EV and, no doubt, it's most complicated rollout. I expect the software to get better over time once Ford starts rolling OTA updates out the door.

As for the side mirrors, the US needs to finally catch up with the rest of the world and allow cameras to take that task over. It would be safer and cheaper. As noted it would improve aerodynamics, too.
 

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Just a suggestion.... next time you want to change the fan speed try a voice command.

Try pressing the voice button (short press - Long press activates siri/android auto) and say "Climate - Increase (or decrease) fan speed". That should work so you can keep your hands on the wheel. You can also say "Climate - Max (or min) fan speed". Those are old commands from previous sync systems that should work.
That was absolutely the first thing I tried was voice commands - they did not work for me. The only climate voice command I could get to work was to set the temperature. Maybe I will try again.
 

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That was absolutely the first thing I tried was voice commands - they did not work for me. The only climate voice command I could get to work was to set the temperature.
I am at work but I will be heading outside to try it myself (all the chargers were occupied at work lol) So I'll try it too
 

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For someone who is supposedly so tuned in to automotive design, I'm surprised they are so far off the mark on the volume dial. Honda is basically a case study of the pushback you get from customers by removing easy to use dials, and had to backtrack on that decision quickly to prevent further defection from their brand.
 

timbop

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I agree but some of their criticism of the software and speed of the screen is founded. Ford should improve this over time. Comparing to Tesla is fine but this is Ford's first EV and, no doubt, it's most complicated rollout. I expect the software to get better over time once Ford starts rolling OTA updates out the door.
absolutely

As for the side mirrors, the US needs to finally catch up with the rest of the world and allow cameras to take that task over. It would be safer and cheaper. As noted it would improve aerodynamics, too.
absolutely disagree, unless there is a dedicated display that always shows the camera view. If I hear screeching tires I don't want to have to look down, find a widget, press it, and then see the view of the car that has already hit me because I took too long finding out what was happening.
 

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I agree with them about the start button though. I mean there isn't an engine to start up before you can start driving. Seems like you should be able to get into the car, like they said, and it recognizes PaaK or the fob and the screens should come on so it's ready when you put your foot on the brake to shift. I don't think it's something that really needed to be there for something that doesn't actually need to "start". You put the car in park and get out and walk away with your phone or fob and it detects that already, why not just shut the car "off" when that happens. It's not like we leave the engine running anymore and need to remember to shut it off. Really just seems like Ford is just used to having the button already designed in the ICE vehicles, no one thought to take it out on the MMe.
 

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This was mentioned by someone on another thread (so I take no credit for it), but I thought it was a home-run idea and hope Ford implements it.

The 'volume' knob should dynamically change based on function. Example - when you select a radio channel it acts as a volume dial. When you press the fan control, it adjusts the fan speed. When you select the temperature, it adjusts that. Etc., etc. I think that would be great!
 

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This was mentioned by someone on another thread (so I take no credit for it), but I thought it was a home-run idea and hope Ford implements it.

The 'volume' knob should dynamically change based on function. Example - when you select a radio channel it acts as a volume dial. When you press the fan control, it adjusts the fan speed. When you select the temperature, it adjusts that. Etc., etc. I think that would be great!
YES! Full Agree. That's the first thing I thought of and would enhance the user interface considerably. I hope Ford is working on it and that it can be rolled out OTA.
 

stmache

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The Honda e is an example. Also, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 will have the tech. Not sure if the European versions of the Audi e-Trons and Volvo EVs use them too.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Sandy Munro Mach-E Episode 6: Wrap Up honda_e_01


Ford Mustang Mach-E Sandy Munro Mach-E Episode 6: Wrap Up honda_e_02


Sandy mentioned putting the side screens incorporated into the rear view mirror. Like this concept:

Ford Mustang Mach-E Sandy Munro Mach-E Episode 6: Wrap Up rearview_mirror_concept


Regulations in the US do not allow for this.
 
 




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