Submit a button count

Counting rules

1. Count every physical control on the dashboard and centre console that is operated on its own: push buttons, rockers and toggles, knobs, rollers, heater levers, and each key of the factory radio or head unit, a phone keypad included.
2. A rocker, a plus and minus key or a four-way pad counts once. Keys that move separately count once each.
3. A push button counts whatever it does. A pull handle, a latch or a reset stem inside the instruments does not.
4. Leave out the steering wheel, the column stalks, the doors, the seats and the roof console; the gear lever or selector of any kind and the handbrake; air vents and their adjusters; the lighter, ashtray and sockets.
5. Touch-sensitive keys with no moving part do not count, and nothing on a screen does.
6. Count the car as built. Leave out a radio or other equipment fitted later.
7. Count only what a photograph shows. Where part of the dashboard is hidden, say so: the count is then a minimum.
8. Note the trim, market and model year, since counts often differ between them.
9. Note how the climate controls work: knobs, buttons, the touchscreen or a touch panel.

Review

• An editor checks the count against photographs of the car or the source given.
• Once approved, it appears on the car’s page and in the Button Census, which is recalculated with every change.
• An email address, if given, is used only for a reply and is never shown.
• A photograph of the dashboard can be uploaded as well, so the count can be checked against it.