• macerated_baby_presidents [he/him]
    ·
    2 months ago

    that have basically only proliferated because of techbro dipshits mucking about with things they don't understand

    I hate touchscreens too, but the reason they're so prevalent is they're cheaper than engineering and manufacturing a bunch of custom physical buttons and knobs

    • FumpyAer [any, comrade/them]
      cake
      ·
      2 months ago

      Don't accept the capitalist premise that it's normal to compromise safety for expediency and cheapness.

      Also, you can reuse some of that engineering through a full line of cars.

      • macerated_baby_presidents [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        huh? I'm not making a value judgement, I'm saying that as a matter of fact capitalists have compromised safety for expediency and cheapness. It's not because of techbros fucking around or something.

        Reuse is possible, but only to a limited degree. Setting up tooling is very expensive. Not as bad as body panels which are custom per model, but still pretty rough. You'll see that when you look at the cost of buying replacement parts for even a parts bin GM car. Gauge cluster, button and dial assemblies, the interior trim that the buttons and dials go in, all surprisingly expensive when you think of how much tablet you could buy for the same money. There is a real profit motive behind the screens. Even in consumer/hobby electronics, my background, it's the same: cases and buttons often dominate BOM costs (and require manual assembly).