Some say the only constant is change. Okay, the existence of gravity as a force might be up there, but there’s a certain truth to that idiom. Haircuts, music, cars … they all change from decade to decade, and I’d like to clear off the table and bring out the crystal ball for a second. Today, we’re asking you for your pick of a feature common in new cars today that could seem outmoded three decades from now. It’s a big ask, but you’re a clever lot, so I’m sure you’ll have some interesting answers.
Flip the calendar back 30 years and you’ll land on 1996. That doesn’t seem terribly far in the past, but cars have changed a whole lot since then. We’ve gone from halogen headlights to LEDs, fixed steering columns in cheap cars to ones that at least tilt, optional radios at the bottom end of the market to infotainment. You can’t even play CDs in most cars anymore, yet having a CD changer in 1996 meant that you had it going on.
Perhaps the humble cigarette lighter is the most omnipresent antiquated feature in ’90s cars. From a Toyota Tercel to a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, sparking one up was a common enough way of passing the time that just about every car had either an optional or standard fingerprint-remover in the dashboard or center console. Between advancements in technology and changing health trends, far fewer cars now come with ways for passengers to accidentally singe the upholstery. You’re lucky if a smoker’s pack is a dealer-installed option, and some cars simply don’t have traditional 12-volt power points anymore.
Is there a true modern equivalent to this? It’s hard to say for sure, mostly because time travel hasn’t been invented yet. However, if I were to hazard a guess, the presence of hexavalent chrome plating is a strong contender. Unsurprisingly, the traditional chroming process isn’t particularly nice to things like lungs, so it’s unsurprisingly the target of recent regulations. Europe is already phasing out hexavalent chromium, and since we live in a largely global car market and chrome already seems to be out of style, it’s likely the sort of chrome we’re used to will become a rare sight.
That’s just a guess though, and I’m far from the only person capable of making a bold prediction. So, what car feature do you reckon is going to feel so antiquated in 2056? As ever, let us know in the comments below.
Top graphic image: Ram
I want to say gasoline engines, except I’m already driving a vehicle whose age far exceeds the timeline stated, and it has a gas engine. I do expect to see the ICE system drop well below 50% of all drivelines installed by that time.
Manual transmissions will be a thing of the past, though. Just plain gone. The old efficiency advantage is gone, and new/younger drivers don’t care for manuals much. It’s mostly just old farts and enthusiasts that are still into them, and there’s enough crossover among enthusiasts that they’ll not make a big fuss about it.
Crotch vent.
Every current car’s infotainment system. In 20 years they’ll just spit out error messages, if they function at all.
USB. Everything will be connected via wireless.
Steering wheels was the one that first came to mind, if only because so many in the industry are pushing that. The idea that personal vehicles would hinder or forbid critical personal intervention like steering seems like a real bad idea, but it gets a lot of attention.
ICE engines are probably the right answer here. The pendulum can keep swinging on electrification, but I imagine three decades will have brought a lot more charging stations and seen gas pumps going the way of payphones.
I’d like to see more modular interchangeability, but right-to-repair and the “reuse” part of resource conservation are chopped liver to manufacturers, and probably most consumers. Still, imagine a future in which you don’t have to deal with a car’s outdated-at-birth infotainment interfaces and just put your own device in a secure mount, replacing it as needed?
Autostop.
They’ll be like “They designed these, because they thought it would save on gas and help emissions, but it just angered everyone who had it in their vehicles.”
I actually like it. It irritates me to sit at idle wasting gas and spewing fumes for no reason. I realize that I may be the only one, though.
I keep it enabled if I know I’ll be driving for a while in traffic, but if it’s the winter and/or I’m making a short trip I keep it disabled. Usually the control logic for it is pretty good about not enabling it until the car has come to normal operating temperature, but sometimes it’s a bit too aggressive!
Disagree. You may never hear an engine idling at stoplights in the future, I think that’s more likely.
The manual transmission. Let’s face it, it’s practically gone in the USA now. I predict that in 30 years it’ll be gone in most of the rest of the world as well.
In 30 years, any transmission will obsolete, replaced by electric motors driving axles directly or maybe a step-down single speed transmission. I was tempted to say ICEs (ICEes? ICies?) altogether, but trucks and any other tow vehicles will probably have some sort of ICE range extender available.
While I believe that there will be far more BEVs around in 30 years, I don’t think ICE will be totally gone. In my opinion, there are just too many obstacles to universal adoption of EVs. But 30 years is a long time, so I could be wrong.
Car names like Oldsmobile, Saturn, Pontiac and Mercury will be about as weird to see on the road as Duesenberg or Studebaker are today.
Physical media, for sure. I don’t even think you can get a CD player on a new car anymore already.
On a related aside, my Honda dealer recently had an ‘87 Civic on display in the showroom. My 15-year-old son was checking it out and commented on the cigarette lighter… And I pointed out that that was actually the choke, like on the lawnmower.
He looked at the car the way one might look at someone you respected who just told a filthy joke.
Gigantic, retina-searing, 4-foot high headlights. One person’s guess is we will mandate adaptive/automatic-0dipping headlights, possibly along with a maximum height limit. What’s happening now in terms of night-blinding headlights is ridiculous. And this coming from a guy who drives a 2500HD pickup with HID headlamps. I can’t do much in traffic, but at least in drive-through’s and other instances where I am directly behind somebody, I shut those monsters off out of courtesy.
Mechanical glove box releases.
Europe banned hexavalent chrome like 20 years ago.
Seat belts and airbags, as no new vehicle by then will ever be involved in a crash, never ever. Also, driver’s seats. /s
Giant, aggressive front ends. I’m looking at EVERYONE here. The era of the angry car will fade.
Return to 90s jelly bean cars I beg of you, I want something shaped like a friend not some fucked up bootleg Bionicle.
Highly corrodable metals. Exhaust systems, basically last forever now, all due to the change and materials. Other systems and components will follow.
External / protruding antennas.
AM radio is still popular in rural areas and even as a Urban emergency planner having cars be able to receive radio messages in the event of a national emergency is important, FEMA and others recently fought to keep am receivers in cars
I’ve heard lots of rants about USB A ports especially in evs. It’s about 30 years old and disappearing. So probably USB c. I would imagine small especially low res screens. Non power anything.
Engines that produce noxious emissions. Yes, IC engines will still be around, but in much smaller percentages.
Regular lead-acid car batteries.
Giant detached-looking video screens.
Piano-black plastic.
Came here to say this.
Not only will it seem weird, it’ll look weird after accumulating 30+ years of scuffs and scratches.
Good point. I can’t imagine anything looking more awful than 30 year-old piano black plastic.
Steering wheels
Tesla. Elon’s robot army will have eradicated all humans. Elon will have his brain transplanted into a robot and lead the xAi revolution.
USB ports
Nah, you’ll still need to charge your phone or some other gadget. But USB A ports will be gone, replaced entirely by USB C or D (or whatever the next step will be).
Ironically I was thinking of the USB A port as the only port as I completely forgot about USB C.
Internal combustion engines is the answer and it is not even close.