Touch controls on steering wheels causing crashes, VW owners

Volkswagen has announced that its future models would revert to physical buttons on the steering wheel.

According to a media report, the capacitive touch controls on the steering wheel of Volkswagen cars are being blamed for causing some crashes. As many as 13 crashes have been filed by Volkswagen owners with the NHTSA, many of them involving hitting objects while parking.

As per the report, all the crashes involve Volkswagen's ID.4 electric SUV - with its owners claiming the car's cruise control re-engaged leading to the crash. This is said to be because even a light brush against the control is enough to set it off. The ID.4 along with a few other models built by Volkswagen since 2019 come with haptic controls on the steering wheel, rather than physical buttons.

While most of the 13 crashes reported occurred at relatively low speeds, three of them resulted in occupants suffering injuries, while one didn't trigger any airbag deployment despite the EV suffering significant damage to its battery. The report states that Volkswagen is "aware of a small number of complaints", although NHTSA is yet to open a formal investigation.

Having said that, Volkswagen late last year announced that its future models would revert to physical buttons on the steering wheel. Volkswagen's CEO even went on to admit that haptic controls "did a lot of damage" to the brand.

Source: ArsTechnica