Typically, the worst part of a modern Ferrari beyond the exclusivity and asking price is its human-machine interface, which makes sense. It’s a super sports car meant to be driven, and attempting to simplify that experience with touch interfaces makes sense on paper. Numerous quick functions that can be achieved on modern smart devices are certainly convenient, and the process also likely results in some cost savings.

But in practice, the new haptic touch controls on the steering wheel of new Ferraris, namely the SF90, have become a huge sore spot for owners who claim they activate unwanted features when driving. Now, there’s apparently a retrofit fix, and you can thank the new Ferrari Amalfi coupe for it.

What’s Slightly Old Is New Again

The new Ferrari Amalfi, which replaces and updates the style of the outgoing Roma coupe, gets a twin-turbo V8 good for 631 horsepower, a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 3.3 seconds, and a top speed of nearly 200 mph. It also now has the “old-fashioned” steering wheel with physical buttons again, which should be good news for prospective buyers. But what about people stuck with the now-old haptic hardware that many don’t seem to enjoy using? Well, Top Gear reports that Ferrari will retrofit some of its already-sold cars with the new button steering wheel.

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Ferrari head of product development Gianmaria Fulgenzi reportedly confirmed to Top Gear that recent but older Ferrari models like the SF90, 12Cilindri, 296 GTB, and Purosangue SUV “can have it,” meaning the new Amalfi-style design. “We don’t even have to replace the whole wheel. Just the center,” he said, where the old haptic touch zones or new physical button switches are located.

An Easy Fix?

Supposedly, any Ferrari dealer should be able to perform the operation and subsequent calibration, so it should be an easy fix for those owners who are looking to avoid accidentally switching things on or off while driving hard, as has been reported. There’s no word on how much the retrofit would cost, or whether Ferrari offers this as a kind of apology to angry owners. Presumably, owners who opt for it will at least pay something for the switch.

Why Haptics Happened

Enrico Galliera, a marketing boss for Ferrari, told Top Gear that Ferrari was finally listening to customers: “Our philosophy is always ‘hands on the wheel, eyes on the roads.’ But we were finding people were having too much time with their eyes also on the wheel.” He also gave some reasoning for why the SF90 and subsequent models have adopted the controversial haptic tech.

“When we were designing the SF90, we set out to create the most high-performing Ferrari,” he said. Another designer added that “beauty is simplicity,” suggesting the haptic model was somehow better because it was more minimalist. Plus, there’s the option to have multi-function haptics with shifting display icons for various functions in various modes, which is possible but less common with buttons.

Eyes on the wheel for too long when piloting a 200 mph sports car is obviously not ideal, so it’s good Ferrari found a fix.

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Source: Top Gear