Infotainment Systems Can Turn Off Some Car Owners

If motorists find their vehicles’ on-board infotainment system too tough to use, within easy reach is an alternative: their smartphone.

Should they reach for that, it could end up costing automakers money in the factory-installed option department, says Kristin Kolodge, J.D. Power’s executive director-driver interaction and HMI.

She cites connectivity “pain points” from a frustrated customer’s point of view and what could come of them:

“If technology doesn’t work well on my vehicle and I end up using my portable device, the next time I purchase a car I’m not necessarily going to want that technology in it.”

Automakers face the brain-busting challenge of loading up vehicle infotainment systems with all sorts of functionality to stay competitive, yet making the equipment easy to use – and non-distracting to drivers to boot.

Multi-functionality and simplicity seem at cross-purposes although consumers seem to want both. Kolodge and others discuss that during a tech-centric panel session at a J.D. Power Automotive Marketing Roundtable.

“Electronics in vehicles needs to be intuitive; that’s where we need to get to,” says Upton Bowden, manager-marketing and technology planning at auto supplier Visteon and a former electrical engineer at Ford.

He proposes a common user interface across vehicles. “That will simplify consumer interaction in the cockpit.”

The auto industry is working on ways to periodically upgrade on-board systems, Bowden says. “The last thing you want is for someone to buy a car and then the next year’s model contains a significant upgrade.”

Dealers are trying to get customers up to speed on the technology in purchased vehicles, but it isn’t easy, says Steven Szakaly, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Assn.

“The auto industry is training customers on our technology, rather than finding out what they want,” he says. “It takes 10 steps for my vehicle navigation system to direct me somewhere. My phone app does it in three.”

He contends many car owners “don’t want to use center-stack functions, even though automakers put a lot of effort into those.”

Many automakers put app-like icons on their infotainment system screens. That’s because so many consumers are familiar with those from using their smartphones.

Automakers want dealerships to give customer tutorials on all the technology features on a car. But that’s expecting a lot, Szakaly says. “You really need to focus on what the customer wants to use.”

Dealers are the go-to people for customers with automotive technology questions, he says. “We deal with it every day. No one drives their cars back to Detroit to ask how something works.”

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