Sorry for expanding the discussion, but it is not just cars.  I have a digital radio.  It has buttons, and a rotary control.  You press a button to switch it on - for about ¾ second, and it switches on to a digital channel.  Any longer, then it does a scan, longer than that it switches to fm but as there is no signal it just makes a noise.  The same button is used to switch off – if you press it for the right length of time.

I have an induction hob (an expensive one).  This has touch controls.  I can usually switch it on, but my wife has great difficulty because it just doesn’t detect her finger.  It has automatic detection of a pan on a heated area, except when it decides the pan is somewhere different in the middle of cooking.

It is not just about buttons or touch controls, but design and engineering.  At least my radio or hob does not crash when they misbehave.

Sorry for expanding the discussion, but it is not just cars.  I have a digital radio.  It has buttons, and a rotary control.  You press a button to switch it on - for about ¾ second, and it switches on to a digital channel.  Any longer, then it does a scan, longer than that it switches to fm but as there is no signal it just makes a noise.  The same button is used to switch off – if you press it for the right length of time.

I have an induction hob (an expensive one).  This has touch controls.  I can usually switch it on, but my wife has great difficulty because it just doesn’t detect her finger.  It has automatic detection of a pan on a heated area, except when it decides the pan is somewhere different in the middle of cooking.

It is not just about buttons or touch controls, but design and engineering.  At least my radio or hob does not crash when they misbehave.

I have the thing with touch controls not detecting my fingers too - I think it is to do with dry skin. In fact I remember breaking the first touch screen photocopier at the university of york electronics dept because as I tried to get it to start, nothing happened, and the advice was to push a bit to make a larger contact area. The chap from the copier hire place was not very impressed either, as we both discovered the hard way that even a pressure that exceeded the failure of the glass did not register as a press....

Now I lick the finger tips, which works, but does not feel very hygienic.

Mike.