No, *NOT* the same argument.. A text must be read and comprehended and takes far longer than the "glance down and then back to the road" that finding a button takes, and a far different mental process than that of essentially getting visual feedback of where a button is; the same visual feedback mechanism that is used to keep your car on the road and avoid obstacles...
But only if the steering wheel control lights are bright enough to see, right? Otherwise you are using more concentration to view the controls.
Which is what I'm saying you shouldn't do... never look down when you don't have to... that's why it's on the HUD.
We're going around in circles here... Looking at the display screen is indirect feedback (I touch something and look somewhere else for the feedback of if and where I hit) and takes more mental processing, and it doesn't address the Bluetooth call buttons which are located way down and out of the way, so you can't just reach your thumb out and touch them, and they are also completely unlit.. It's OK that Toyota is not perfect and has made some questionable design decisions- they are not required to be perfect, but trying to argue that these design deficiencies are in fact "features" designed to improve your safety is counterproductive..
I never use the buttons on the wheel to answer a call. I always grab my phone to answer the call. The answer/end buttons I'm not really found of that Toyota created. Other than volume, and using the trace button for outside air (when you put slightly push the air circulation button on the wheel, it gives you the outside temp on the HUD) to see outside temp, I do not really use the other buttons. For temperature change I like the big dial, its easier to use while driving. Lit up or not, I know where the buttons are, but the phone buttons on the wheel I will never remember.
