‘There Are Certain Functions You Need’

• Kia’s interior design chief believes buttons are required for ‘certain functions.’
• He said burying functions deep in menus is ‘bad for everybody.’
• The brand has no plans to eliminate buttons in future vehicles.

Some automakers went a bit too far, overloading their cars with touchscreens and removing many physical controls. Kia wasn’t one of them. While the automaker’s latest vehicles do have big screens, buttons remain for core functions like HVAC and media. And that won’t change anytime soon.  

“There are certain functions you need to find straight away, and you don’t want to mess up, so we keep them physical,” said Jochen Paesen, Kia’s interior design chief, in an interview with Autocar.  

Kia K4 Sportwagon Interior

Photo by: Kia

The automaker has learned that accessing a function that requires three taps in a menu is “bad for everybody,” according to Paesen. He credited Chinese automakers for pushing new ideas and technologies into cars, but added that it’s important companies don’t just add endless features—they must be useful, too.  

“The key is finding the balance of creating a certain level of warmth and aspiration,” he said, and that means exploring new opportunities as technology allows and experimenting with future Kia vehicles.

Automakers Admit: Mistakes Were Made

Photo by: Kia

It’s not often automakers admit they screwed up and reverse course, but buttons have been different. In recent months, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Volkswagen, Skoda, and others have voiced support for retaining or restoring physical controls in their vehicles.  

Touchscreens require drivers to take their eyes off the road as they dig through menus, which is dangerous. Capacitive buttons aren’t much better, but automakers are even pulling back on using these, like VW.  

The demand for real buttons and switches is so high among consumers that Hyundai is beginning to question whether cars need big screens at all. If they don’t, it gives designers more freedom to craft unique-looking interiors that are more than just two big tablets on the dash.

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Motor1’s Take: Kia’s decision to keep buttons for core functions was the right idea and helped the brand differentiate itself from those that were simply following the trends of a few. Consumers have been demanding buttons in cars for years, and some automakers are reversing course while Kia charges ahead, refining its button-packed instrument panel.  

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