My wife recently bought a new vehicle but it does not have inbuilt satnav. I have therefore bought her a Tomtom device. It attaches by suction to smooth surfaces. It’s quite a clever system. You apply the suction pad and then turn the rim anticlockwise, and it creates a pretty good vacuum suction. It seems convenient to apply it to the vertical touchscreen on the dashboard. My question is whether this suction could damage a touchscreen if applied? (FWIW, I consider touchscreens in motor vehicle to be an abomination and a severe safety hazard, but that’s another issue.)

I would not attach it to the touchscreen. You shouldn’t either. Try it on a clean sheet of glass where you can see what is going on from the other side. This should teach you why.

pesce.del.giorno said:

My wife recently bought a new vehicle but it does not have inbuilt satnav. I have therefore bought her a Tomtom device. It attaches by suction to smooth surfaces. It’s quite a clever system. You apply the suction pad and then turn the rim anticlockwise, and it creates a pretty good vacuum suction. It seems convenient to apply it to the vertical touchscreen on the dashboard. My question is whether this suction could damage a touchscreen if applied? (FWIW, I consider touchscreens in motor vehicle to be an abomination and a severe safety hazard, but that’s another issue.)

¿Your Tomtom purchase is itself a touchscreen abomination, yes?

I attach my Aldi-bought GPS (which has exactly the attachment you described) to the windscreen, but leaning forward to touch it while driving is a pain.

No way in hell I would be attaching that to a touchscreen and yes most certainly you can/will damage it.

The trend in car design is to go away from touch screens and back to buttons.
That’s being driven by user feedback rather than from regulators who will come and take your first born if you use a phone but are happy to let you fumble around on the dash board screen to try and find out how fast you are going.

Peak Warming Man said:

The trend in car design is to go away from touch screens and back to buttons.
That’s being driven by user feedback rather than from regulators who will come and take your first born if you use a phone but are happy to let you fumble around on the dash board screen to try and find out how fast you are going.

Very true

mollwollfumble said:

pesce.del.giorno said:

My wife recently bought a new vehicle but it does not have inbuilt satnav. I have therefore bought her a Tomtom device. It attaches by suction to smooth surfaces. It’s quite a clever system. You apply the suction pad and then turn the rim anticlockwise, and it creates a pretty good vacuum suction. It seems convenient to apply it to the vertical touchscreen on the dashboard. My question is whether this suction could damage a touchscreen if applied? (FWIW, I consider touchscreens in motor vehicle to be an abomination and a severe safety hazard, but that’s another issue.)

¿Your Tomtom purchase is itself a touchscreen abomination, yes?

It is indeed, but I can program it before I start and don’t have to do anything to it while driving.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I’ll attach it to the windscreen.