Do touch screens in cars cause accidents? The EU raises the alarm, and Volkswagen shifts into reverse

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At first, they were simple navigators built into the dashboard. Then the ability to answer phone calls and listen to music was added. Today they have become a true extension of both the smartphone and the primary car controls. We’re talking about touch screen for cars, now an indispensable feature of every new car. In recent years these screens have become increasingly larger, increasingly high definition and above all increasingly rich in functions. Even too much according to the Euro NCAP, the European Program for the Evaluation of New Car Models. It is a body supported by the European Union and which is responsible for evaluating the safety of cars on the market.

The squeeze on touch screens

On January 1, 2026, he writes Politicothe new classification system for these devices defined by Euro Ncap will come into force, which provides (among other things) a restriction on touch screen more elaborate. The new rules in fact require that five primary car controls – horn, windshield wipers, direction indicators, emergency lights and SOS functions – can be activated with physical buttons or switches. To receive a 5-star rating, new car models will have to comply with these new guidelines, which are not binding but are still scrupulously monitored by car manufacturers.

Doubts about safety

The EU body’s crackdown on digital controls has to do above all with road safety. “What we see now is that we have more and more accidents where people are colliding because they are distracted,” explained Matthew Avery, the agency’s director of strategic development. Among the possible distracting elements are touch screens. First of all, because they are less immediate than physical buttons and require more attention from the driver. Secondly, automotive safety experts warn, because the brightness of the screen at night “generates an additional amount of light” in the passenger compartment and “decreases night vision”.

How car manufacturers move

To be honest, Euro NCAP is not the first body to raise the issue of touch screen for road safety. Some car manufacturers, starting with Volkswagen, have already announced a step back from total reliance on touch screens following customer complaints. Thomas Schäfer, CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, went so far as to say that the presence of touch screen “caused a lot of damage” to the German car brand. On the other hand, however, there are those who have made those devices a real trademark, which they will now hardly intend to give up. This is the case of Tesla, which faced with the new Euro Ncap guidelines will have to decide whether to continue producing models with touch screens (and therefore give up the 5-star rating) or reverse course.

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