Steering wheel controls

Are there people out there who enjoy changing the radio station while making a U-turn? The steering wheel is for steering, and blowing the horn. Since cruise control is only used while driving in a straight line, I can accept that, but....

If you are not capable of driving with one hand while changing the volume, please buy a bus pass.

It allows me to change the volume, radio station, CD in the changer or song on the changer, WITHOUT TAKING MY EYES OFF THE ROAD.

Yeah, that seems pretty stupid.

Both of our vehicles have them... I rarely touch them

I find it more disruptive to lean forward and twiddle the stereo knobs than to lift my thumb off the steering wheel and hit the buttons.

Thus, if the car you're driving has a stereo, steering wheel buttons are good.

If the car you're driving makes its own music, who needs 'em?

z31maniac wrote: It allows me to change the volume, radio station, CD in the changer or song on the changer, WITHOUT TAKING MY EYES OFF THE ROAD. Yeah, that seems pretty stupid.

but you have to take your eyes off the road when you are first learning where everything is on the steering wheel- and you can do things on a stereo in a car that you've had for a while without taking your eyes off the road..

What you talkin' bout fool. If you are driving with one hand and looking at the radio... maybe you ought to get a bus pass.

I learned the button locations quickly and I like having them on the steering wheel, but I haven't tried changing stations while doing a u-turn... yet

My new car lets me not only run the cruise control from the wheel but also control my ipod and make phone calls. I hate to say it, but I like it. Haven't tried to change the volume while making a u-turn though.

novaderrik wrote:

z31maniac wrote: It allows me to change the volume, radio station, CD in the changer or song on the changer, WITHOUT TAKING MY EYES OFF THE ROAD. Yeah, that seems pretty stupid.

but you have to take your eyes off the road when you are first learning where everything is on the steering wheel- and you can do things on a stereo in a car that you've had for a while without taking your eyes off the road..

And you had to take your eyes off when learning it in the car you've had awhile, you see the parallel, right?

I'm getting used to them, like them except when switching cars and the controls are different between makes. Noticed tonight that the intermittant wiper controller on my wifes 2010 Hyundai Sonata is opposite my RX8. Stereo volume control is a bit different also.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough- I don't like changing radio stations accidentally while making u turns.

Ahh, well. That's better than honking the horn when you meant to change the station. When I change cars my thumbs don't always get the update.

I want my radio knobs on the dash. Near the ignition switch is good, on the other side of the column from my in-dash pushbutton shifter.

Get off my lawn.

dang... it's hard to believe how tough our lives are... having to put up with easy to reach stereo controls

Apparently I'm the only guy who hits the buttons accidentally. Never mind, carry on.

I think we, especially me, misinterpreted what you were getting at.

People totally get pissed when you just honk the horn out of nowhere. I mean PISSED.

I've done it (accidentally changed the radio)... mainly on the '03 MINI where all of the radio controls are on the back of the steering wheel. Which is pretty weird until you get used to it. The '07 MINI is different and has what is often called the "playstation controller" controls - two round, 4-button pads on each wing.

I'm so used to steering wheel mounted controls, I wouldn't even consider a new car without them.

I've accidentally turned off the cruize control in my van while trying to turn up the radio using the steering wheel controls that don't exist . OTOH i've also turned on the brights while hitting the nonexistant clutch after spending lots of time in my RX8. Wheel controls or not, it's just about getting used to the car. I'm fine with or without them.

Wheel mounted controls are great until they quit working. Then not so much. The cruise switches on my van work as long as you hold the button down and spin the wheel back and forth. Makes it kind of tough to set the cruise at 80. I foresee a lot of cars you can't change the radio station.

An industry standard on controls would be nice. I climbed out of my van and into my RX-7 and just about ripped the wiper switch off the column trying to put it in drive.

Toyman01 wrote: An industry standard on controls would be nice. I climbed out of my van and into my RX-7 and just about ripped the wiper switch off the column trying to put it in drive.

After I've been driving my RHD Mini for a while, I always end up trying to signal my turns with the wipers when I switch back to the Miata. Just don't confuse the parking brake pedal for the clutch in the van.

What's a radio?

My new Jeep has radio controls on the back of the spokes and cruise controls on the front. I personally like it. It took me about 5 minutes to note the tactile difference between the switches and use them without taking my eyes off the road or my hands off the wheel.

In aviation we call it HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) which is why you see switches and top hats on aircraft controls. Auto manufacturers who go nuts with the HOTAS design and add too many switches or don't make a distinct tactile difference in the switches are idiots. In my line of work you have to know the difference between switches.

I can't say I'd ever add switches to something like my early 911, I rarely even used the radio in that car. It was too loud for that and the flat six song was better than anything that would have come through the speakers.

steering wheels and columns are getting too "busy" these days.. it started innocently enough in the 70's when they started putting cruise control buttons on turn signal stalks and in the horn button.. then in the late 70's GM decided to put the wiper controls on the turn signal stalk, then some enterprising engineer decided that some- but not all- cars should have the wipers on their own stalk on the other side of the column where a column shifter would go in most other cars.. then radio controls started making their way to the steering wheel in the late 80's- some Pontiac steering wheels from that era look like they have a whole damn keyboard in the middle of the steering wheel.. then came the flappy paddle shifters, which gave way to push button shifters in some cars. has anyone figured out how to put climate control buttons in the steering wheel yet?

i really, really hate having the headlights controlled by a switch on the turn signal stalk in my Cavalier- and it's probably why the car is 7 years old and i just put the 4th switch in it...

people don't need all these things in their steering wheel just because the F1 and Indycar guys do it..

give me the simplicity of a a few knobs and switches in the dash to control the lights and wipers and what not, with the radio in the center of the dash where it's still easy to read. i get having the cruise control on the wheel or turn signal stalk, but that's it. i like a nice light steering wheel that is wide open so i don't get all claustrophobic when cruising down the road- i even went so far as to put a 90's Lumina Z34 steering wheel in my 97 Cavalier to see what it was like, and the wide open wheel made the car just feel "bigger" somehow than the airbag equipped thing that it came with stock.. but the red airbag light in the dash got annoying after a while..

haha.

first world problems.