Screen Off Button

[John VonJeep]

So I was driving Mrs VonJeep’s Mazda last night. It was dark out. Rural roads.

And man, the screen on the middle of the dash was so bright. Screens are fine in the day, or in the city at night. But they are awful on really dark roads.

Turns out there is a way to turn the Mazda’s screen off, but you have to dig into the menus a bit to find it.

The JL does it better with the simple Screen Off button on the dash. I’m already blinded. It’s nice not to also be massively distracted.

I really hope Jeep always keeps redundant physical buttons for controls. I’m not a screen hater. I love my CarPlay. But vehicles also need buttons.

Thanks, Jeep.

PS. Old Saabs had a button called Night Panel that would turn off every interior light except the speedo. Now THAT was cool.

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[Jim1964]

I am a fan of physical controls. And even more so, controls that can be identified by feel and operated without taking eyes off the road.

I dislike the modern design of push buttons that press on/off because it has no tactile feedback to tell you what you did.

 

[Shibadog]

I too am a button/switch guy. And they need to have different “feel” so you know what you are doing without looking. Touch screens are another source for distracted driving as you hunt through the options.., Oh, and old Saabs WERE cool…

 

[aldo98229]

Apparently, Saab also had a button that made the entire car brand disappear. Oops...!

 

[jeepingib]

I use the screen off button every night. But that's because of work in a Ram. Driving around with no lights on and that button is a blessing compared to the Ford where you have to go through menus to find it.

 

[John VonJeep]

I use the screen off button every night. But that's because of work in a Ram. Driving around with no lights on and that button is a blessing compared to the Ford where you have to go through menus to find it.

Yeah, menus suck. I don’t understand the rush to do away with buttons. Touch screens are cool. No problem there.

But why are they also killing off buttons? I get that it looks cleaner, but is there a single additional advantage?

 

[keeperman13]

From my time in the Navy I became hyper sensitive to lights on while driving at night. My wife jokes around, but your night vision is critical and can be greatly improved by reducing unnecessary light pollution inside the vehicle.

 

[MRH512]

Yeah, menus suck. I don’t understand the rush to do away with buttons. Touch screens are cool. No problem there.

But why are they also killing off buttons? I get that it looks cleaner, but is there a single additional advantage?

I believe it's purely economical. Less physical buttons equals less potential points of failure, equals less replacement parts you have to produce/procure and store and less detailed training your service people need to be held accountable for.

It's much easier, faster, and cost efficient to plan to replace a single screen that houses layers upon layers of digital "buttons" with a single universal connector than it is to have stock on hand for the volume knob, the fan knob, the seat A/C button, the seat warmer button, the radio preset channel 1...2...3...4.... buttons, the front defroster button, the rear defroster button, etc.

I'm not sure of the laws around automobile manufacturing, but I work for a computer manufacturer and we're legally required to have parts on hand to support a computer for 7 years after it's release date. I'd wager there are similar laws for auto manufacturers.

It's also been my experience that in the product design process there are always the teams who design and fight for the ultimate customer/user experience, like "people want physical buttons because they can adjust things without taking their eyes off of the road." Then there are the teams responsible for the financial planning who says, "we could save $0.03 in production and maintenance cost per car if we eliminate physical buttons." Guess which team usually wins...

 

[flyer92]

Surprised the NHTSA hasn't weighed in on this from a safety standpoint either. Taking one's eyes off the road to navigate through 15 pages of distracting menus can't be any less dangerous than texting. Manual controls are clearly safer.

 

[RealMenDIY]

Having physical buttons for items that get used regularly is very high on my priority list when vehicle shopping. I refuse to drill down through menus. I think the JL's design is perfect from this standpoint.

 

[DawnitaS]

So I was driving Mrs VonJeep’s Mazda last night. It was dark out. Rural roads.

And man, the screen on the middle of the dash was so bright. Screens are fine in the day, or in the city at night. But they are awful on really dark roads.

Turns out there is a way to turn the Mazda’s screen off, but you have to dig into the menus a bit to find it.

The JL does it better with the simple Screen Off button on the dash. I’m already blinded. It’s nice not to also be massively distracted.

I really hope Jeep always keeps redundant physical buttons for controls. I’m not a screen hater. I love my CarPlay. But vehicles also need buttons.

Thanks, Jeep.

PS. Old Saabs had a button called Night Panel that would turn off every interior light except the speedo. Now THAT was cool.

Does your Jeep not have the auto dimming for the whole dash? Where it dims at night and gets brighter in the daylight?

 

[aldo98229]

Hondas have the exact opposite problem: the instrument always lights up the same, regardless of having the headlights on or off.

That’s why you always see some kook in a Honda driving at night with the headlights turned off.

 

[John VonJeep]

Does your Jeep not have the auto dimming for the whole dash? Where it dims at night and gets brighter in the daylight?

Sure, but it doesn’t dim the center screen nearly enough when you’re on really dark roads.

I think Jeep understands this. Hence the button.

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