An Interface Built for Multitasking

On a regular basis, I use my car's radio and climate control interface, and it has always been easy for me to use efficiently even when I first bought my car, and while performing the sometimes stressful task of driving. I thought about how impressive this interface really is while I was driving with a friend in my car the other day, and they got all nervous every time I went to do something to control my heat or radio. Come to think of it, it probably isn't very safe to browse for music, defog your windshield, or adjust the heater or heating/cooling vents in the midst of driving, but my car's interface design makes it simpler and more of a possibility. The radio is very simple, and set up like almost all car radios are, there is a "scan" button that navigates through the stations, and 6 buttons with with stations assigned to each one by the user. Then there are the tape controls (because I'm broke so I drive a car from 1998); all you need to do to start the tape is hit the rather large button that reads "Tape" right next to the screen that tells users the time as well as the radio station or if the radio is in tape mode or not, and once this button is hit or a tape is inserted, the tape will automatically begin to play. The fast-forward and rewind buttons reside next to where you insert the cassette, and thats basically all you need as far as playing tapes goes. As a member of modern society, I don't own any cassettes, so the only thing I use the tape-deck for is my the cassette that allows me to plug my iPod into it and play through the car speakers. There are a few other buttons to control the radio/sound system in my car, but I honestly find them to be extraneous, and I don't think I've ever used them. The volume control, a function of the radio I feel myself using constantly, is placed very close to the driver, and it is a simple nob that can be turned to increase or decrease the volume. The heating and cooling system in my car is also very simple to use, even while driving and without looking. The nob closest to the driver controls how strong the air or heat blows, the center nob controls how warm or cool the air coming out of the vents is, and is marked by a blue side for cool air, and a red side for heat, which is easy to see out of the driver's peripherals, and the dial has a mechanism that clicks when you turn it, so it is easy to gauge how cool or hot you've set the dial to. The dial furthest from the driver selects where the air comes out, it starts off in a diagonal position for "OFF", and has different places for air to come out of on the left and right sides which I have pretty much memorized since purchasing the car in June.