The most and least distraction car infotainment systems revealed

The most and least distracting car infotainment systems have been revealed by new testing that found some systems require a driver's attention for four times longer than others to complete simple tasks.

Research by What Car? named BMW’s iDrive system the easiest to use while MG’s in-car media and navigation setup was rated the worst.

Distracted driving accounted for 15 per cent of all road accidents and was a contributory factor in 25 per cent of all fatal crashes in 2018. Every second spent looking away can be dangerous, as a vehicle moving at 30mph will travel 13.5m every second.

To determine the least and most distracting systems, What Car? tested 20 different in-car systems that encompass the majority of the different types of infotainment systems and dashboard layouts on offer.

Testers performed six common tasks including changing the temperature, zooming out on a set sat-nav route and changing from one radio station to another, with each action timed.

The testing found that systems with physical buttons are much less distracting to use on the move than those that are purely touchscreen controlled, with those combined touch, physical and voice controls found to be best.

The testers found that it took twice as long to adjust heating controls on some cars with touchscreen controls rather than physical dials. And it took up to four times longer to zoom out of the sat-nav map to view a pre-programmed route using a touchscreen than it did using a rotary dial controller. The easiest systems for adjusting the sat-nav map were Audi’s Virtual Cockpit Plus and BMW’s iDrive, while the most fiddly was the Lexus 12.3-inch multimedia display.

Overall, BMW’s iDrive in the 3 Series was found to be the least distracting to use thanks to a combination of physical controls, natural voice recognition and a touchscreen. Similar systems in the Mercedes-Benz CLA, Porsche Panamera and Audi Q3 also performed well while the Mazda3’s system, controlled by a rotary dial, was ranked fifth.

At the opposite end of the table the media and HVAC system of the MG ZS was found to be the worst, with the Fiat 500X's touchscreen and the Skoda Citigo's mobile phone-based system also poor performers.

While voice control was found to be the least distracting method for many of the tasks, the research found that the worst systems still distracted the driver for twice as long as the best.

Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: “Distracted drivers are a factor in a growing number of road accidents, so it’s important to choose a car with controls that are responsive and easy to use while you drive. The best systems provide physical buttons and voice control, while those that are most distracting have sluggish touchscreens and require too many steps to carry out commands.”

The most and least distracting in-car control systems