Words: Andrew Sluys
Published 22 June 2026
In an age where buttons are disappearing inside cars at an alarming rate, owners and journalists alike have been vocal in questioning this decision.
Despite this, it seems Mazda is confident in its decision to remove physical climate controls from its new CX-5.
When introducing this new CX-5, Mazda elected to remove the small screen and rotary controls that featured across its line-up.
Instead, buyers get the choice of either a 12.9-inch or a 15.6-inch display, that houses everything.
In an attempt to keep consistency, the controls that affect temperature, fan speed, and direction have been locked to the bottom of the screen.
According to a report published by Drive, Mazda CX-5 program manager Koichiro Yamaguchi explained his reasoning during an interview with Australian media.
“Air conditioning, you can operate with a finger, and if we have to put the physical button, that will be at the lower position,” Yamaguchi-san said.
“Then the driver has to look down, and [there are] 15 similar looking switches.”
When asked by the Australian outlet about how this would affect driver distraction on the road, Yamaguchi-san said:
“From that point of view, that time to help the drivers’ eyes off the road will be shorter in this setting.”
This decision goes against where China is heading on the topic, as they seem to be the leaders in interior tech.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently introduced regulations that mandate physical controls for important functions on new vehicles.
These regulations are intended to remove the reliance on touchscreen and voice recognition controls.
It could be argued that climate controls don’t fall into the same category of importance as gear selectors and indicators, but driver distraction is one of the issues at the core of these regulations.
