Blame Infotainment Systems For Car Crash Increases

If you hate infotainment systems, this will only make your blood boil. I’m not a fan of touchscreens that take forever to respond, have confusing menus, and in general are horrible to use. AAA doesn’t seem to be much of a fan, at least when it comes to safety.

The organization released the results of a recent study, and found that as infotainment systems become more complex, accidents increase. AAA gathered together 30 new cars, then got 120 people to drive them while doing different tasks using the infotainment system.

Researchers then paid attention to two factors: how long people were distracted from their surroundings while using the infotainment screen, and how much energy they put into the task. One example was navigation systems that aren’t exactly easy to use. The average person spent up to 40 seconds to route a destination. In that amount of time, a driver could crash multiple times.

According to AAA, the Tesla Model S, Ford Mustang GT, Subaru Crosstrek, Honda Civic Touring, and Audi Q7 are some of the worst for infotainment system simplicity. Among the best are multiple Toyotas, the Hyundai Santa Fe, and Lincoln MKC.

Sure, drivers should pull over and then fiddle with the screen, but that’s not what’s happening. AAA thinks automakers should just make infotainment systems simple to use. I can throw my support behind that conclusion.