Temperature-Down vs. Front-Defrost Buttons

Anybody else periodically mistakenly hit the front-defrost button when aiming for the temperature-down button, thereby kicking on the ICE, requiring it to go through its obligatory warm-up cycle, etc.?

Trying to keep my eyes on the road, I find it all too easy to “miss.”

I’m ponding ways to avoid that: possibly glue on a piano-black tactile-feel plastic strip between the two buttons?

Hmmm... come to think of it, there might be a voice command to set cabin temperature...?

 

On the way to work, I tried voice commands, and found that can tell it, for example, “Climate” then “72 degrees.”

So that might be a way to avoid hitting the wrong button and accidentally starting up the €£@$ ICE, and simultaneously keep your eyes on the road more.

 

I’m on the list for a Model 3, and as with many, that’s the main thing about it that makes me wonder.

I personally can see it going either way: The reasons why it would be cumbersome are obvious, but then again, I can also see a good argument that displays in front of you are distracting: At least on open roads, with Autopilot taking care of speed and lane centering, I can see a reasonable case to the effect that it’s better to have nothing in front of you other than a wide-open, unobstructed view of the road.

So, I’ll just have to try it myself.

I gather Tesla is soon to release a software update allowing Model-3 owners to do almost everything on the touch screen from voice commands. It’s worth adding that Tesla’s voice-command processing is much more “natural language” than Toyota’s.

FWIW, there are fairly good third-party, aftermarket HUDs available.

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Historically speaking, I’ve found that German automakers tend to think such things out much better than Japanese, but not as sure more recently. The scroll-knob (or whatever to call it) interface, for example — from what I’ve seen in reviews at least — seems a little iffy.

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It has its share of quirks, for sure, but I all in all, I find it reasonably straightforward to use. The main thing that I find inconsistent sometimes, is how to dig my way out of audio screens: Usually the return arrow on the upper right is it, but not always.

The main thing I don’t like about it is that stuff pops up from the bottom of the screen rather than down from the top, which takes my eyes farther off the road.

I think I need to experiment with more, and get used to using more, voice commands.


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Perhaps it’s because I have tinted windows, or my particular choice of seating position, but thankfully, that hasn’t been as big a concern for me as I imagined it might.

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Nor did I, although I’m not surprised in hindsight.

I think I should plan on adding one new voice command to my repertoire per day over the course of the next week. I bet I can improve my %eyes-on-the-road (or at least %eyes-off-the-screen) by 40% by habitually using 5-10 voice commands!

It’s worth mentioning that it takes a 30-60 seconds after power-up for it to start up the voice-recognition system. Similarly with phone contacts, it seems...

 

I don’t think the Prius Prime has temperature adjustment buttons on the steering wheel...


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