Which side is the volume knob on the Infotainment

[Nick72]

8 hours ago, NASY said:

The volume control should be easiest to access by the person who wishes to use it - got to be the passenger who wants to change what the driver has set from the steering wheel controls hasn't it?

Yeh I don't agree with that. In every other country it's nearest the driver on the RAVs. Including Aus and Japan RHDs. All apart from the UK. Suspect majority of driving on average is just the driver. The steering controls are a faff. Better to just turn the dial quickly up or down to the right level than attempting to jog on the steering wheel. Just my personal opinion of course.

[APS]

The volume knob 'should' be on the driver's side. In countries where they drive on the right, the volume knob sits on the left, with very few exceptions. Since this is the most common configuration on a world basis, this is what most cars were designed for. In right hand drive cars (i.e. drive on the left) there is a bit more of a muddle as it depends on whether the manufacturer spent the few quid it cost to switch the knobs over to the right. It also stems from the time when we had DIN mounted (and earlier) radios in cars. These always had the volume on the left and tuning on the right. This has stuck.

 Toyotas in the UK used to have the volume knob on the left, but if you got a Lexus they would have a right hand drive version. Nowadays, with software driven controls, the cost of having separate left and right hand drive versions is very low. 

There is a similar story with indicator stalks, until they pretty much standardised on keeping it on the left worldwide.

[NASY]

Interesting how people's preferences are so different, I never use the rotary volume control and much prefer the accuracy of the  steering wheel mounted toggle switch. As for where other controls or resources should be very few manufacturers ever got the ashtrays in the right place, though that's where quarter lights came in handy.