More generally: I want to be able to feel the state something is in. Whether it is push/pull, turn, or flip doesn't matter, but it has to physically maintain the state I put it in.
An exception to this of course are functions that are used temporarily, like the horn, and the wipers swipe-once. And if direction indicators turn off automatically, the input device has to change its state accordingly.
I’m a flight sim nerd and it’s immediately clear when you have to keep track of more states than your are used to how much attention is needed and how much is freed up if you can reach over and feel the state of the switch.
I would love that for many functions in a car. And a knob with some bump or whatever at the ac temp setting, so I can adjust its position based on feel alone as well.
On a modern keyboard the caps-lock key would probably benefit from one too =)
I think switches that can set themselves to current state (flip back) are a bit pricey but can be had from $12 or so (iirc).
Honestly it makes driving a real chore and is a huge safety problem; just that one little anti-feature ruins driving.
I hope the automobile manufacturers take a note of this, and bring back some of it that’s worked for decades. I believe few German manufacturers like the Mercedes-Benz to have a sense of this, hope they don’t get along with this trend too.
The exception would be to put a tiny motor on each control to keep it synced up, but the cost to reliability (not to mention just money) would be unacceptably high.
Power windows are close to fulfilling this (up/down separated, and it might be argued that the state is sufficiently obvious, though questionable for the rear windows). A central lock controlled through a common lock/unlock button does not satisfy this.
I think the big sticking point is usually climate control and radio since that's what people fiddle with most while driving. Maybe little things like the ride mode selector (but I'm not sure how many people actually fiddle with those sorts of things in practice). But nowadays the "radio" is rarely just radio or disc/cassette player. It's music, audiobooks, or podcasts off a phone. I don't really know how you do that with integrated controls that aren't screen based, like most luxury cars already have the little control wheel and also controls on the steering wheel. So what more would you need? Maybe some haptics on the control wheel to give you more feedback?
Joking about the price aside I always loved that the original design goals for the F1 included that if someone found one in a barn in 50 years time they should be able to repair it.
I think that leads to quality, simple, tactile controls.