It's big, but is it better? When the Tesla Model S electric vehicle launched in 2012, one of its stand-out features was the enormous central touchscreen in the dashboard that replaced nearly all physical on-board controls. It quickly became a selling point of the car with a simple, elegant user interface, intuitive controls, and even hidden 'easter eggs'. Although many rivals had used touchscreens for a long time, none were remotely as large as Tesla's unit. However, earlier in January, the US's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finally issued a formal letter to Tesla, informing the automaker that it had determined the screens in 2018 and earlier Model S and Model X vehicles posed a safety risk. The risk was centred around the fact the driver would lose some critical safety functionality if the screen or the software driving it failed. In particular, they would no longer be able to operate the demister or the reversing camera, which could potentially lead to an accident. Anecdotal reports told of drivers suddenly unable to access most vehicle functions because their central screen had gone black and become unresponsive.