Car radios (was: Clear Channel to enhance radio ads with RDS)

[SteveOrdinetz]

  Dan Strassberg wrote:
>I have, on several occasions, rented Ford Focuses in Tampa while visitng my
>mom at the assisted-living facility. These were cars of several different
>model years. NONE of the Focus radios had manual tuning controls, unless you
>consider the Seek and Scan functions to be such controls.

(some snippage)

>I forget the name of the company that Ford spun off to make radios and such,
>but I wonder how much cost they eliminate from the radio by eliminating the
>tuning knob. BTW, to save dashboard space, the scan and seek buttons are
>really small, so finding them while driving usually requires me to take my
>eyes off the road. I don't think that's a safe design.

I"ve never seen a car radio that had -NO- manual tuning control, but this 
is a major annoyance of mine, too....car radios with 94 dinky little 
buttons (some performing different functions depending on whether you're 
using the radio or tape/CD).  Aftermarket radios have been doing this for a 
long time.  Tough enough just to even use it if you have large hands, but 
as you said, nearly impossible to adjust the radio while driving.  Hey, 
it's hard enough to find a particular control when parked!  I've never 
owned a vehicle new enough to have radio controls on the steering wheel, so 
I can't comment on Garrett's experience, though this seems to just add even 
more clutter.  Alas, more clutter & lots of tiny buttons seems a general 
trend, be it automotive, or on audio/visual equipment.

Give me simplicity anyday.