I talk about sunroofs quite a bit on this blog but most of the time the conversation is simply about the roof itself. I don't delve into the issue of sunroof control as often as I probably should, so let's start out with the best one in the game which is found in our 2011 Volkswagen Jetta TDI.
This is, by far, my favorite method of sunroof control and should probably be installed in every car -- damn the licensing costs. How's it work? Easy as can be: Turn it all the one one way to open it all the way, turn it all the way back to close it. No holding it, no waiting, just one touch and it's done. It's as quick and easy as turning off the stove. You only want it open part of the way? Don't turn it the whole way.
If we're being honest, a big dial hanging off the roof isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but the function far exceeds the aesthetic shortcomings.
So the Jetta's is the best, which is my least favorite?
This is the sunroof control in our 2012 Toyota Camry SE. The buttons are very small (especially for a Toyota), the roof doesn't close automatically and the tilt is in a separate location from the normal sunroof controls. It's an afterthought for a non-standard feature and it feels like it. Toyota -- and everyone else -- should just buy the Jetta's dial and call it a day.
Mike Magrath, Features Editor, Inside Line
se_riously says:
07:47 PM, 01/28/12
I own a 2012 Camry SE (no sunroof) and a 2005 Sienna (with sunroof). Too bad the Camry's switch is so poor, because my Sienna's is easy - just one toggle switch. One side auto slides open/intermittent tilts down while the other side auto slides closed/intermittent tilts up. If you want to slide open just a little bit, you hit the slide open button first, and then hit the slide closed when you want it to stop. Granted that a toggle switch is not as easy as the Jetta's knob though.
gsarngad says:
08:11 PM, 01/28/12
I haven't been inside the new Jetta, the controls look basically the same as in my 2010 GTI. If so, I generally like it, but it can be a little difficult to tell at night exactly where the line is pointing when you're looking from the driver's seat because of the parallax.
billt9 says:
11:41 PM, 01/28/12
As gsarngad said,
It'd be nicer if the dial didn't have a mark 180 degrees from the actual pointer mark on the dial.
I thought it was closed! No wait it's pointing to open!
esoterica says:
01:19 AM, 01/29/12
I used to think VW's system was cool until I realized that not once in my life had I wanted to open a sunroof to a position that wasn't the auto-open position. Due to that, I like Volvo's switch the best, it's kind of the sunroof version of the anthropomorphic seat controls. Pull back on it, sunroof opens. Push forward, sunroof closes. Push up, sunroof tilts up. Pull down, sunroof tilts down. One switch, not ugly, takes up no room.
stovt001 says:
06:53 AM, 01/29/12
My least favorite setup is when you have to hold the switch to close it, and if you hold it too long it shuts and then tilts.
brn says:
08:04 AM, 01/29/12
I first saw that system in a 2000 VW Bug that a friend bought. I have to agree. All sunroof controls should be like that.
ed124c says:
09:01 AM, 01/29/12
I think I might like the separate button for the tilt. I never liked having to watch closely as the sunroof closes, in order to make sure you don't go past close because then the tilt opens. That doesn't make sense. A separate button does.
(Basically what stovt001 says above.)
jasond52 says:
09:03 AM, 01/29/12
Why would one ever open the sunroof part-way?
allthingshonda says:
09:18 AM, 01/29/12
I think this is the worst design on the market. I agree that I have never in my life wanted to partially open the sunroof. Nor have I ever ridden with some one who partially opened the sunroof. My Acura and a previous Mitsubishi has the best design IMO. One button that mimics the sunroof operation. Just like esoterica's Volvo. Pull back to slide the sunroof back, push forward to close, push up to tilt up and pull down to close from tilt. All functions are one touch auto functions. Very intuitive, well designed and the button is cleanly integrated in the overhead console and is illuminated at night. I'm glad Volvo and Honda got rid of the control on the driver side dash and put it on the roof. And it's hard to believe Toyota still uses two separate buttons for slide and tilt. My neighbor's Cressida back in the 90's had this design.
mjp16 says:
09:39 AM, 01/29/12
I like this setup too--it's the same one that's in my dad's A4.
I don't mind the route they took in my MINI either. It's a two-stage toggle switch: fully press it down and it auto opens. Half-press and hold and it opens to full tilt (release along the way to stop), release and half-press and hold again and it opens to full open (again release along the way to stop). Not a fan of systems where it doesn't let you differentiate between the "full tilt" and "beginning to open" point.
threemopars says:
11:27 AM, 01/29/12
Uh yes, mine is "one touch" as well....actually it's easier than this setup.
Push forward it auto closes
Pull switch rearward and it fully opens. At any point in the travel you want to stop just push forward or rearward on the switch.
Push up to tilt.
Pull down to close.
Can't be any easier than that because I don't have to look and see what position I've placed the dial in, nor do I have to look up and see where it's at before I turn it. Which BTW what cars now don't have an "express open" sunroof?
zoomzoomzoom04 says:
11:30 AM, 01/29/12
How about a slider -- slide the switch forward or back as far as you want the roof opened or closed. Push in on the slider for tilt.
lucien4 says:
12:07 PM, 01/29/12
I also like Acura for simplicity: move slider forward / backward and to automatically open/close fully push it all the way. Push in to tilt it. Definitely don't need to look at control to see how it works.
blueguydotcom says:
05:34 PM, 01/29/12
Vw's been doing this forever. Not sure why car critics love this so much. When I had cars with sun roofs, including a VW, I generally opened it all the way. Never really opened a bit. Can't see the reason for it.
wizard8873 says:
06:09 PM, 01/29/12
One of my friends had an old beetle and it had the same style of dial but it was recessed in and not sticking out. Great from a functionality perspective but i'll take the auto open and auto close ones.
dinobot666 says:
06:28 AM, 01/30/12
I had an '85 Toyota Tercel wagon (go ahead and laugh, I loved the car) with an electronic sunroof. It was strange, because you had to hold down two buttons to close the sunroof. I suppose this was some kind of safety feature to prevent you from accidentally decapitating yourself with the sunroof or something.
You can sort of see the second button that needs to be depressed in order to close it in this video. It's towards the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAtP090Hr3k
legacygt says:
06:43 AM, 01/30/12
I have always liked the dial for the sunroof. I've seen it in VWs and Audis. But reading this, for the first time, I thought about whether or not this type of dial would make sense for the windows as well. Sometimes you want windows down only a portion of the way and this might be a good way to implement this. We've grown so used to push buttons for windows but anyone think a dial might work there as well?
lucien4 says:
07:31 AM, 01/30/12
Isn't a dial though more restricting than just letting go of a button at the right time? Looks like this dial has a few fixed points and with button or slider I can stop it at right time (or just hit a very shortly to further fine adjust).
fordson1 says:
08:14 AM, 01/30/12
Lots of people commenting on this who clearly don't have the complete picture of how it works.
Turn it the slide-open way, either all the way or to one of the stops (there are lots of stops, believe me - you'll like one of them) and take your hand away - it will go to that setting and stop.
Turn it the tilt-up way, either all the way or to one of the stops (ditto as above) and take your hand away - it will go to that setting and stop.
Turn it back to the close position, take your hand away and it closes all the way.
Why would you want your sunroof open only part way? Gee...I dunno. Why would you want your power window to open only partway? Why would you want different fan speeds for the HVAC? Why would you want a volumn control for the sound system, rather than just an on-off switch?
"I think this is the worst design on the market. I agree that I have never in my life wanted to partially open the sunroof. Nor have I ever ridden with some one who partially opened the sunroof."
Yeah, right - because it allows something you never wanted to do, it must be a horrible design. Get off my lawn, you kids.
carguy622 says:
08:32 AM, 01/30/12
Hmm, I've never opened my moonroof partially.
blueprint1 says:
09:31 AM, 01/30/12
First sunroofed car I rode in had 100% full control of the opening. A mid-'70s Beetle with a crank. A buddy's '82 GLC Sport had a crank, too. Ahh, the simple times...
revs29 says:
10:42 AM, 01/30/12
That switch does look awesome. Sat in one at NAIAS, the switch felt very solid and useful.
I've always found the sunroof switches in early 90's - mid 2000's Hondas and Acuras pretty good as long as you're in the correct seat - placement is to the left of the steering wheel. Perfect for the driver, terrible for the passenger.
dm7279 says:
12:21 PM, 01/30/12
Another thing that surprises me is the fact that they are using words on the buttons in the Camry instead of the silly little pictures they usually use on buttons these days. I had to look at the photo for a couple seconds to figure out which buttons actually control the sunroof. I do like the knob on the VW, it seems to be the most efficient method for operating the moonroof.
calhon says:
02:16 PM, 01/30/12
"How's it work? Easy as can be: Turn it all the one one way to open it all the way, turn it all the way back to close it. No holding it, no waiting, just one touch and it's done."
So, Mike, you have to turn the dial through a full 180 degrees to do what you do most often; i.e toggle between the fully open and fully closed positions. That would be easier and quicker with a simple switch.
Here's my assessment of the VW control compared to the auto 4-way single lever switch used by Volvo and a number of other manufacturers.
1. Closed to fully open, slide - Inferior
2. Closed to fully open, tilt - Inferior
3. Closed to partially open, slide - Superior
4. Closed to partially open, tilt - Inferior/Not possible
5. Open (partially/fully, tilt/slide) to closed - Inferior
6. Change in the open position, slide - Superior
7. Change in open position, tilt - Inferior/Not possible
8. Change from slid open to tilted open - Superior
9. Change from tilted open to slid open - Inferior
The single lever switch accomodates all 9 use cases but, as far as I can tell, the VW control doesn't allow for use cases 4 and 7; ie., there is no partial tilt on the VW.
The VW control has an advantage in use cases 3, 6 and 8 in that the sunroof will go automatically to the selected positon. With the single lever switch you either have to hold the switch until the sunroof reaches the desired partial opening or press/pull again to stop the sunroof at the desired opening. On the other hand, the sunroof can be slid or tilted open to any position between fully open and fully closed with the single lever switch.
In the other 4 cases, which includes the most common uses, the single lever 4-way switch is superior because all that's needed is a single brief push or pull of the switch. In addition, the single lever switch is more intuitive because it mimics the desired action of the sunroof, and doesn't require the user to locate markings on a dial.
esoterica says:
07:14 PM, 01/30/12
+1 calhon. An additional UX issue is that, in VWs that I've driven, the knob can get out of sync with the sunroof position (e.g. if you turn the knob while the car is off or if you turn off the ignition while the sunroof is closing, the car doesn't notice that the knob position and the sunroof position are different when you turn the ignition back on). The Volvo-style switch doesn't have this issue.
wseto says:
06:29 PM, 02/ 1/12
Well I've never driven with my car with the moonroof open to anything but fully open (no resonance setting) or tilt either.
However, when parked in a parking lot, and making a phone call in my car with the sun blaring down at me, I've opened the moonroof partway to get maximum venting and maximum sun blockage. So I have used the in-between setting numerous times.
The control for my 2008 GTI is largely similar to the Jetta, except that there are four major positions in the dial with clear tactile indication when it's in each position:
Tilt, closed, open to maximum setting that doesn't cause resonance with windows closed, and fully open.
It's a no brainer and requires no looking up to set my moonroof to any setting I desire, just a quick twist of the dial and I'm done. I like the design.