Best use: Opel Astra J wins test of ACE steering wheel

Auto Club Europe attests Opel´s Navi 900 Europe as slightest distraction danger in traffic 

Multimedia infotainment systems are now firmly in the compact class - and at Opel optimally integrated into the operational concept. ACE steering wheel, the magazine of the Auto Club Europa examined, now together with scientists from the University of Salzburg and 36 testers at the Opel Astra, Ford Focus and VW Golf, which distractions from the operation of their infotainment systems proceeds. Winner of the so called HMI-Test (Human Machine Interface), the Opel Astra J, which Navi infotainment system 900 Europe has the highest overall score for the slightest deviation in the received traffic. 

The Astra is particularly good at selecting a given contact from the phonebook. "The fact that the telephone problem can be solved much faster, the subjects proving to Astra. The average duration of 22 seconds, making the Opel system is not only half of the Golf term, but it remains well below even the duration of the visit, the subjects in the VW exclusively on the display," reads the judgment of the tester.

Opel Operating Units: Optimal placement and logical structure

The Opel display, with a diagonal size of seven inches (17.8 cm) is also the largest image representation of the three test candidates and is well visible near the top in the field of vision. The infotainment systems from Opel are characterized by the most logical organization of the control units. The most important direct selection buttons for Radio, CD, Navigation and Telephone are located - one below the other - left on the driver's side, the secondary functions on the right.

The study tested the subjects of the HMI-tests when entering a destination into the navigation system, the choice of a phone caller and a radio station and in the operation of the speaker distribution (fader). A scientist in the back seat and four cameras on the dashboard with infra-red LEDs for precise image of the viewing direction observed the subjects during the tasks.