I don’t know why, but “mechanical turk” keeps cropping up when I think about this sort of stuff.

This seems more appropriate.

It’s a pretty successful Disney movie from the last 20 years, there was never a chance that would work.

Because it’s not that easy, unfortunately. The 5-way switch (d-pad with center button if you will), is molded into a shell. That shell is what sits in the cavity of the steering wheel. Even if you removed the switch from the shell, you still have to deal with the wiring inside, behind the switches and contacts, and the fact that the d-pad and the shell are formed in a way to only allow installation one way (as in there’s notches or grooves that will only let the switch sit in the shell at the “correct” position).

Hope this makes sense. (I’m a former automotive technician turned training/warranty coordinator)

A 2024 Kia Telluride is right around $50,000 USD (fully loaded specs), but I get what you’re saying with regards to vehicles in general.

Like BMW and Tesla having “creature comforts” behind subscriptions.

deleted by creator

Always has been.