A big change that Toyota made when it unveiled the revamped RAV4 lineup was the noticeable reduction in the amount of buttons and switches the cabin had. These axed controls were instead moved to the infotainment screen in an attempt to simplify the driving experience.

However, a new report suggests the company is monitoring consumer feedback and is ready to bring them back in if demand is strong enough.

Toyota is monitoring RAV4 consumer feedback

This admission came during an interview Australia’s Drive publication did with chief RAV4 engineer Yoshinori Futonagane who revealed the company is watching customer feedback to the RAV4’s new interior.

While this is standard procedure for most automakers, Futonagane dropped a surprise saying “it’s an open item at the moment” whether it will “have to reinstate physical switches for some things.”

This implies the company had to develop a contingency plan early in the development phase, and the debate of which buttons to move to the screen caused “alot of drama” behind the scenes during development.

Demand for buttons has grown in recent years

When automakers originally began axing buttons out of cars, they portrayed it as a solution to clutter, and improving the user experience. Instead, more customers have complained about this trend, and have been very vocal about it to various automakers including Toyota.

Ironically some of this feedback is coming from Gen Z and younger customers. These car buyers grew up with the constant presence of screens, and a trend has emerged where more of these young people are gravitating to things like manual transmissions and even older analog technology to have a higher degree of involvement and control.

This sentiment crosses oceans too with Toyota being forced to add buttons back into vehicles it sells in China after customers over there complained to the company about the loss of familiar buttons and switches.

Buttons, the next great divide

Many automakers have said in the past they intend to keep buttons in the cabins of their new vehicles with Audi, Kia, and Hyundai being a few notable names. Mazda on the otherhand chose to take a risk with the 2026 Mazda CX-5, and removed every button it could find out of the cabin to move them into the screen. The SUV does have satellite controls on the steering wheel and voice controls to help with some things, but it’s still a big risk.

As for the Toyota RAV4, it didn’t quite go all-in like Mazda did in the quest to eliminate buttons. But it remains to be seen if this delicate attempt at compromise will continue to win over customers, or if it backfires and the company is forced to put them back in for customers in more markets.