Famine or feast: That's the problem with car dashboards and the number of switches, knobs, and controllers mounted on them. Reduce controls to a handful, and the dash looks great—but owners complain they can't figure out the bleeping cockpit control knob that is the all-in-one replacement. Restore the controls, and most everything has a dedicated switch again—but laying your finger on the one switch you want, in a hurry, represents the needle in the automotive haystack.

The genesis of this rant is the extensive time I've spent in in Acuras and Hondas recently. To my mind, Honda (with its upscale sibling Acura) is the most Germanic of the Japanese automakers, and that's a good thing if you like sporty performance to go with your luxury and safety. Who doesn't? Honda/Acura has an Achilles heel, however, in its confusing and overly complex center stack. The center stack represents the dashboard area between driver and passenger that's home to the radio, climate controls, vents, LCD, and—in the case of Acura (pictured)—a cockpit controller, as many as three displays, and some four dozen switches. The purpose of the iDrive controller and clones was to reduce button count.

I have long believed that if a journalist can figure out a problem, it shouldn't be hard for people with brains to understand and resolve the problem also. For example, automotive engineers should be able to design an intelligent dashboard. Here are ten rules for smart center stacks. Engineers, are you listening?

There should be one display only. Which means a single LCD mounted high on the center stack and deeply hooded to reduce glare, and integrating audio, climate control, a trip computer, and navigation. As opposed to: 1) an LCD (with no hooded recess), 2) a clock and outside temperature display atop the dash, 3) entertainment controls below the LCD, and 4) the climate control display below that. Automakers say that users want the display next to the controls; I say we're used to the separation of the input device and display, ever since the first time we picked up a computer mouse or a TV remote.

Automakers say it's too expensive to put an LCD in every vehicle; I'd say, at least for the ones with LCDs, route the audio and climate control info to that display. Infiniti does the best job of integrating information: Everything you want is on the display, and the part of the display you're adjusting, say the cockpit temperature, momentarily enlarges. For cars without an LCD panel, the radio head unit could be the single display, especially since a lot of them are proprietary already and can't be replaced with an off-the-shelf Pioneer, Alpine, or Sony radio.

Use transflective LCDs. No matter how deeply you recess the display, it's going to reflect daylight, which often means glare. That's compounded by the use of highly polished dashboard trim and aluminum-look console panels (which are actually nicely molded plastic). The only solution that works 100 percent of the time is the transflective (transmissive and reflective) display used on some military and contractor laptops. At night, a transflective display transmits light sources from behind, but by day it draws reflected brightness from ambient light. This kind of display is already in the BMW X5 and BMW 3 Series convertible; when I drove the convertible top-down in mid-day Florida sunshine while wearing 90-percent-absorption sunglasses, the display was perfectly legible. It was one small reason that the X5 was our Digital Drive car of the year.

Provide touchscreen displays. If you can put your finger on what you want, that's easier for most drivers and passengers. Yes, touchscreen overlays reduce visibility, and fingerprints leave grease, but there are ways to get around both, such as an XY grid of infrared sensors that tracks finger movement (HP used it on displays years ago) and microfiber clothsto do away with smudges. It's the least of several evils.

We need big, legible buttons. The right button size is big—big enough to punch with a gloved hand, with big white type on a big nonreflective black button. Too many cars have small satin-chrome buttons and small scripted lettering like what you'd see on a wedding invitation. It would be nice if the buttons were backlit by adjustable brightness LEDs that never wear out (unlike $1 incandescent bulbs that require $75 in shop time to replace) and could be made brighter or dimmer than the main instrument panel to account for individual preferences or vision issues.

Buttons should be in the same place on all cars. This is minor. But the radio volume control and power button ought to be on the lower left, not somewhere in the middle. (Attention, GM.)

Put passenger-useful information in the center stack. This is also minor. Passengers want to know the outside temperature, the time, and maybe if they're helping with directions in cars without navigation systems, the compass heading. Those should be displayed in the center stack, or at least not exclusively in the instrument panel. A Honda Pilot I just drove has the sunroof controls down by the driver's left knee.

Cockpit controllers need palm rests. Cockpit control knobs such as the BMW iDrive, Audi MMI, Mercedes Comand, and controllers from Acura, Infiniti, and others belong on the center console with a nearby palm or elbow rest, not on the center stack with no support for your arm. And (attention, Audi and others) you can't put the cupholder cutouts between the armrest and the controller, because then you have to make an inverted U-shape to support you arm and reach the controller. Infiniti's controller is midway up a sloping dashboard that provides a vestigial palm rest, which is worth half a credit (it's a long reach over, not down, but at least it's wrist-stabilized). The BMW iDrive has the best location and feel for a controller (now that the edges are rubberized on some models), if not the best software implementation. Audi has the best design, with a dozen function buttons arrayed around the console-mount MMI controller, which summons navigation, audio, and so forth. The baby Audi A3, some older Mercedes-Benzes, a couple Mercurys, and some Hondas have pointing sticks on the dash that are as bad as it gets.

Provide a big hazard-warning switch. When you need the four-way emergency flashers, you may need them in a hurry. The button should be big, red, and not buried among other switchgear; it should be easy to find not only for yourself but also for drivers who are new to the car. The flat part of the center console is fine, except if you leave a pet in the car for even a moment (I'm talking about non-sunny days, so don't sic the SPCA on me), Fido trips the four-ways and sometimes the central lock button. Remember to take your keys.

Keep separate these must-have buttons and knobs. At the risk of adding complexity to the dash, I believe some buttons should still be separate and not relegated only to a cockpit controller. For the audio system, a power/volume button on the left, a tuning knob on the right, and a half-dozen station or CD presets. For the navigation system, a dedicated home button (Menu then Home is okay), a dedicated brightness control, and a dedicated volume control—or as a few automakers do (is this rocket science?), let the radio volume knob control the navigation system's volume when the nav system is speaking. There should be an audio mute button that also mutes the navigation instructions; sometimes you want it quieter when you're going through a busy intersection. Audi is the best in this regard, with a roller wheel on the steering column that is the fastest way to adjust volume; if you tap the button, it mutes the audio.

Supply voice control. Even in its halfway-there state today, voice input benefits the driver who's become familiar with his or her car, knows the necessary syntax, and has learned to enunciate clearly, so that saying "Miles to destination?" doesn't elicit the response, "What FM station?"

The best solution for center-stack usability is a four-way approach: More buttons, but not too many; a cockpit controller for fine-tuning commands; a readable LCD that's your single reference point; and voice command. The other solution: Buy a sub-$20,000 car such as the Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Focus, Honda Fit, Scion xB, Nissan Versa, or VW Golf. Because to keep costs down, they're light on the technical wizardry that overwhelms higher-end center stacks.