It won’t have escaped your attention that cars are now full of screens. Infotainment screens, of course, have been around for a while, but even dashboards and heads-up displays have become screens in many modern cars. This is the way the automotive industry has gone.
Even some of the most basic economy cars have huge screens, with many infotainment systems using touchscreens. High-end cars even have glass screens that stretch from one side of the car, right over to the passenger’s side.
However, what was once seen as a gimmick has now become quite the problem for manufacturers. Worryingly, these screens have been the cause of many recalls. At the time of writing, there were at least 30 active recalls for vehicles related to the screens and displays inside them. That number could easily rise as the rest of 2026 progresses.
The questions many will have are: why are these screens failing, and is there a solution to the problems? Consumers have become frustrated by the onslaught of screens, the lack of physical buttons, and how complex some systems have become. Maybe the answer is to just simplify things and move backwards to simultaneously go forwards.
There Are Vast Recalls for Faulty Cameras
Data from the NHTSA reveals just how many recalls there are from manufacturers right now, and how many have been caused by screens. At the time of writing, there were around 30, which means roughly 3.8 million vehicles in the United States have been affected. The issues vary too, from just rearview cameras to entire displays not working.
Ford has suffered particularly hard when it comes to cameras, with 2.0 million of its 12 million recalled cars being solely due to faulty backup camera images. Vehicles such as the Bronco, Escape, Edge and Explorer have all suffered. Even its luxury division, Lincoln, has had to recall the Aviator and Corsair due to the issue. Honda has suffered 325,588 recalls due to faulty rearview cameras, and even Lamborghini has had to recall some of its supercars due to a similar issue.
Rearview cameras have been mandatory on all new passenger vehicles sold in the USA since May 2018. As systems have become more and more complex, so too have the failures in them and the solutions companies have had to work around to fix them. Yet while cameras are a big problem right now, they aren’t the only issues facing vehicle owners.
Displays Themselves Have Been Causing Problems
Hyundai has highlighted the plight that many manufacturers are now facing. It recalled 96,310 SUVs for displays that suddenly went black on owners while they were driving. That issue also carried over to the luxury division, Genesis, which had to recall 83,877 cars for the same problem. Nissan has had to recall over 50,000 of its own vehicles due to similar issues.
So what on Earth has been going on? According to Consumer Reports, touchscreens went from being in just over half of all new vehicles sold in the US in 2014 to now being in nearly 98 percent of all new cars on sale in 2026. As they have become more common, so too have the issues that cause them to fail. The solution? Maybe it’s time manufacturers took a step back from all this digital wizardry and went for more analogue approaches to dashboards and displays.