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Ferrari is answering one of the biggest complaints from recent owners by bringing back real steering wheel buttons. As of May 9, 2026, Ferrari of Atlanta is advertising a factory-backed retrofit that replaces the touch-capacitive controls on the Purosangue and the 12Cilindri with physical push buttons. It’s a rare after-sales fix that addresses a design decision even Ferrari has admitted was wrong.
The retrofit does not require a full steering wheel. Only the center control section, the module that houses the buttons and switches, is replaced. The airbag cover remains untouched, and the rest of the wheel is unchanged. According to Ferrari of Atlanta, the job can be handled at an authorized dealer in the U.S. instead of shipping the car back to Italy.
The new module is nearly identical to the original at a glance, but the feel is different. Menu, phone, and cruise-control functions are now operated by real buttons with tactile feedback. Traction control, wipers, lights, and the rest of the switchgear stay in the same spots. That means owners get the corrected interface without an interior redesign.
Ferrari introduced capacitive steering wheel controls on the SF90. The panels were meant to reduce visual clutter and emphasize new technology. In practice, the design was difficult to use without taking your eyes off the road. Because the touch surfaces offered no physical feedback, drivers often couldn’t tell whether they had actually pressed a function or merely grazed it.
Complaints mounted quickly. Ferrari heard the criticism and eventually switched back to physical buttons on the Amalfi. The new retrofit carries that change to vehicles already in customer hands, and it does so without waiting for a model-year update.
Ferrari isn’t the first brand to reverse course on touch controls. Several mainstream and luxury automakers have admitted that pushing almost every function into a screen or a capacitive surface created more problems than it solved. Safety groups have also started paying closer attention to driver distraction, with the European New Car Assessment Programme signaling that future ratings will include how easily drivers can use critical controls without being diverted from the road. Physical buttons generally allow drivers to operate by touch and muscle memory, and that advantage is hard to argue with.
What makes Ferrari’s move unusual is the retrofit aspect. Most automakers treat a flawed control layout as a lesson for the next generation, not as a reason to build a replacement part for cars already on sale. By doing this, Ferrari is showing that its design choices can be corrected during a model’s life cycle.
The announcement from Ferrari of Atlanta specifically covers the Purosangue and the 12Cilindri. The SF90, the car that originally introduced the capacitive controls, is not listed in the notice. Ferrari has not said whether the retrofit will eventually be extended to other models. That leaves room for the program to grow, but it also means owners of earlier cars may need to keep waiting.
Pricing has not been announced. The modular design and the relatively simple dealer labor should keep the cost below the price of a full steering-wheel replacement, but owners will need to ask their local Ferrari dealer for an actual quote. Because the airbag cover and the main wheel structure stay in place, the retrofit also avoids the complexity that usually comes with swapping a full steering wheel.
This is one of the better customer-care decisions Ferrari has made in recent years. A public admission of a design mistake is one thing; offering a physical fix for existing owners is another. It’s not a recall, and it’s not a warranty claim. It’s a voluntary upgrade designed simply to make owners happier with the car they already own.
The fact that the replacement part looks almost identical to the original is clever, too. It keeps the design intent intact while fixing the interaction problem. For anyone driving a Purosangue or a 12Cilindri who has long disliked the touch controls, this retrofit is the practical correction they were waiting for.
