Car Makers: Consumers Want Bigger Displays, Despite Distractibility

A product specialist for Fiat Chrysler demonstrates the 12-inch touchscreen display in a Ram 4x4 pickup truck during the 2020 San Diego International Auto Show Saturday. (San Diego Union-Tribune photo)

There’s one similarity among the hundreds of shining new cars and trucks on display at the San Diego International Auto Show: their dashboard displays are getting bigger, reports The Union-Tribune.

Automakers from Ford and Fiat Chrysler to Lexus and Subaru are rolling out models loaded with driver-facing screens measuring nearly 12 inches. But the size — and increasing complexity — of these screens have sparked debate about whether large displays are more or less safe for drivers.

On the showroom floor of the San Diego Convention Center this past Saturday, the largest of these touch-screen displays was Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, which features a 15.5-inch display — bigger than many laptop screens today. In terms of size, the Mach-E is dwarfed only by one maker: Tesla, whose vehicles sport 17-inch screens.

Sean Downey, the display manager for Ford, said the larger screens have become the trend of the industry this year. The company’s newest Ford Explorer features a 10.1-inch screen now, while older models only had 8-inch displays.

Toyota’s Lexus division, BMW, and Fiat Chrysler have all produced recent models with display screens measuring 12-inches or more. And Subaru’s new Outback wagon and Impreza sedan have 11.6-inch displays available in all but the base models.

For Jason Douglas, a San Diego resident attending the auto show Saturday, the automakers using bigger screens are doing it right.

“I love the bigger screens; you’ve got to have them nowadays,” Douglas said. “We’re so used to technology getting bigger and bigger, so you kind of expect it out of the cars. Especially if you’re paying $40,000 or $50,000 for the car.”

Despite their popularity, in-console “infotainment systems” have inspired questions about safety and driver distractibility. A study by AAA and the University of Utah, published in July, found that these touch-screen systems can be distracting, especially for older drivers.

On average, older drivers (ages 55-75) using dashboard displays removed their eyes from the road for eight seconds longer than younger drivers (ages 21-36), doing things such as tuning the radio or setting up navigation.

But many automakers are betting that supersized displays will lower distractibility and increase safety. After all, drivers won’t be forced to peer at small text or maps while driving.

“A lot of automakers have done eye-tracking studies and found that looking down at a smaller screen is more distracting,” said Marler.

That’s why infotainment screens have gotten larger and higher in the field of vision, she said, to keep things like navigation in the line of sight.