Ford has taken the wraps off the 2013 F-Series pickup and there's something familiar inside: buttons and knobs. Rather than outfit the new (and optional) MyFord Touch-equipped center stack with the same capacitive controls fitted to the Edge and Explorer, Ford opted for standard switchgear.

But why?

According to a Ford spokesman speaking with Wired, "Our truck customers want physical controls," noting that many F-Series buyers wear gloves while in their pickups. The capacitive controls fitted to recent Fords don't play nice with work gloves, so unless the Blue Oval wants to include a pair of touchsceen-friendly mittens with each F150 it sells, it had to retain standard switchgear.

But there's likely more to it than construction workers and their choice of hand coverings.

In 2011, Ford sold 584,917 F-Series pickups. That's 1,603 every day, 67 every hour or just over one truck every minute. Which is why it's not just the best-selling vehicle in the United States for 30 years running, it's one of the highest-selling vehicles on the planet.

Image: Ford Motor Company

Partner that kind of popularity with the constant oneupmanship that Chevrolet, Ford and Ram (formerly Dodge) perpetually engage in to prove that their truck is the king of the hill when it comes to power, towing capacity and interior amenities, and the reason physical buttons were included becomes clearer.

Ford can't risk the same bad press and mixed customer feedback that its capacitive controls have endured on its most important vehicle.

While MyFord Touch is an option on the new F-Series, the capacitive switchgear isn't. Those are the same controls one 2011 Ford Edge owner, interviewed by J.D. Power and Associates, called, "difficult [and] unsafe to use while driving." According to a Ford spokesman, customer feedback on the capacitive controls of the Edge/Explorer have been positive, but the main complaint is the responsiveness of the system, something that Ford is attempting to rectify with continued software updates.

So Ford played it safe and smart, and stuck with familiar, easy to operate controls.

In the cutthroat horserace that is big truck marketeering, any chink in the armor of the competition will be quickly exploited. And in the case of the F-Series, Ford's rivals are constantly looking to find that lone issue that could sway buyers into another dealership. Ford has done their homework when it comes to the F-150. They know their customer, they know their individual needs, and they know that not optimizing the controls for the average use case would be disastrous when battling it out for big truck supremacy. But whether or not this portends a shift away from capacitive controls in Ford products going forward remains to be seen.

Correction June 7 12:04: This article was modified to correct an error in Ford's customer feedback figures. The company says that most customers had positive feedback about its capacitive controls.