1976 Lincoln Continental Base Hardtop 2-door 7.5l on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports explains its disdain for infotainment

One of the perks of reviewing all manner of cars and trucks is that we're exposed to all the different infotainment systems. Whether Cadillac's CUE, Chrysler's UConnect, BMW's iDrive or MyFord Touch, we sample each and every infotainment system on the market.
Not surprisingly, some are better than others. It seems consumers have come to a similar consensus, with Consumer Reports claiming that Ford and Lincoln, Cadillac and Honda offer the worst user infotainment experiences. Not surprisingly, you won't find much argument among the Autoblog staff.
Take a look below to see just what it is about the latest batch of infotainment systems that grinds CR's gears. After that, scroll down into Comments and let us know if you agree with the mag's views.

Chief designer for Lincoln Aviator SUV is brand's new design director

The man behind the looks of cars like the 50th anniversary 2015 Ford Mustang, the current-generation Lincoln Continental and the luxury division’s new 2020 Aviator SUV is LincolnÂ’s newest design director. Kemal Curic replaces David Woodhouse, who left earlier this year and is now a vice president overseeing design at Nissan and Infiniti. Curic, 41, was born in Sarajevo and grew up in Germany and Croatia. He began his career with Ford of Europe in 2003 after earning a bachelorÂ’s degree in industrial design and a masterÂ’s in transportation design in Germany. There, he worked on the European version of the Fiesta, the Mondeo (the European version of the Fusion) and the Kuga compact SUV. aviator-4 View 38 Photos In 2010, Curic won a global sketch competition Ford created to pick a designer for the 50th anniversary Mustang. He moved to FordÂ’s headquarters in Dearborn, where he joined the design team for the 2015 Ford Mustang, which won the EyesOn Design award for Best Production Vehicle at the 2014 Detroit auto show. Curic became exterior design manager in 2014 for the reborn Lincoln Continental sedan, then lead the overhaul of the brandÂ’s design language. He became chief designer for the three-row Aviator, which debuted at the 2018 L.A. Auto Show, and he served a lead exterior designer on the all-new 2020 Corsair, LincolnÂ’s compact crossover that was formerly known as the MKC. In an interview earlier this month with Truck Trend, Curic talked about how the midsize Aviator exemplifies LincolnÂ’s new design ethos. “This is the anti-wedge, which is very elegant,” he said. “If you think about cars of the 1960s, they had that exuberant attitude with more anti-wedge than most vehicles today. Think about the angle of attack of an airplane. You have this gliding gesture, sort of leaning back. The anti-wedge, a teardrop shape, is also the most optimized shape for aerodynamics.” Curic has said he was captivated by American cars as a child growing up in Europe, and he told Truck Trend that he grew up doodling cars in his notebooks at school, which sometimes got him in trouble and made his parents worry. HeÂ’ll reportedly split his time between Dearborn and LincolnÂ’s design studio in Irvine, California, where he lives with his family.

MyFord Touch getting buttons and knobs back to counter criticisms

Ford deserves credit for being a front-runner in offering advanced infotainment technology with its Sync and MyFord Touch systems, but continued consumer complaints over its confusing touchscreen interface and capacitive controls has made the automaker relent. The Wall Street Journal reports that physical buttons and knobs for controlling tuning and volume will be coming back to Ford vehicles equipped with the controversial infotainment system.
The 2013 F-150 with MyFord Touch gives us a glimpse of what the new layout with buttons and knobs might look like, as Ford says a similar balance of touch screen capability and buttons/knobs are what's being planned for future models. And, while capacitive controls have no fans in the halls of Autoblog, many of Ford's models with MyFord Touch do have a large physical knob for adjusting volume with integrated buttons for tuning and advancing tracks, though most of those are models with the optional upgraded Sony Audio system. Lincoln models with MyLincoln Touch, however, feature only capacitive controls for all stereo and climate functions.
Despite receiving enough complaints to throw buttons and knobs back into the mix (a move that reminds us of BMW's iDrive trajectory, among others), Ford reports that Sync and MyFord Touch have still been sold on 79 percent of its 2013 model year vehicles, a number it claims is double the rate that Honda and Toyota are getting for their infotainment systems. Ford also states that owners who do opt for the duo of technologies are more satisfied with overall vehicle quality than those who don't have it.