10 Old Car Features That Aged Terribly

Over the course of automotive history, cars have been equipped with a wide range of tech and comfort features, making the occupants’ travel experience more pleasant and convenient. There have also been plenty of quirky and unusual car features on offer, from falconry sets to pizza ovens.

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While some features have stood the test of time and are still useful today, others have become obsolete, or were simply not that good of an idea to begin with, due to technological flaws. This list will focus on the latter: let’s take a look at some of the features offered by automakers over the years that haven’t aged so well.

1

Navigation SD Cards

Navigation features are an essential part of modern cars, and before they were part of a wider infotainment system, standalone sat-nav units were commonplace. Today, navigation systems are either integrated with our phones (using an interface such as Apple CarPlay), in which case they do not need manual updates, or they can be seamlessly updated over the air.

Not too long ago, however, SD cards were the preferred method of storage for navigation maps; this slightly clunky method of updating maps relied on the user purchasing and carrying physical cards – and having them manually updated after time – which is why it quickly fell out of favor as soon as online updates became possible.

2

In-Car Phone

The ability to communicate from your vehicle has always been sought after, with the first examples of in-car phones arriving in the mid-1940s. Early systems were bulky and expensive, connecting to the landline network via radio technology.

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Car phones continued to evolve throughout the following decades, and in the early 80s they had become compact enough to gain more popularity, while still remaining the almost exclusive preserve of high-level executives who needed to work on the go. The car phone’s heyday would, however, be a short-lived one: by the turn of the millennium, mobile phones had arrived on the market, making car phone technology obsolete and eventually replacing it completely.

3

CD/Cassette Player

In-car entertainment options have varied across the decades: before we could play music in our cars through our phones or other digital devices, the cassette player and, later, the CD player were the most popular options. However, both of these rapidly fell by the wayside once more modern listening methods arrived on the market; a car can be easily pinned to a particular period of time based on what its infotainment setup looks like.

CDs were the most recent physical format available, occupying a large share of the music market until the start of the 2010s. While a handful of cars, such as the Subaru Outback, still come with a CD player as standard on selected trim levels, most automakers are dropping this feature, as modern infotainment systems rely on streaming and phone connectivity to provide users with music on the go.

4

In-Car Vinyl Record Player

Before the CD player, there was (briefly) the in-car record player. This short-lived idea came about as a result of Chrysler attempting to find more ways to keep drivers and passengers entertained over long journeys. Up until 1956, AM radio was the only option for those who wanted something to listen to in the car; the Highway Hi-Fi, a built-in record player, was supposed to change that.

Rather than playing regular records, the Highway Hi-Fi was only compatible with custom discs: they were the same size as a standard 45 rpm record, but were only played at 16 ⅔ rpm. This meant they had a runtime of around 45 minutes per side, which made them a viable solution for car journeys. The system was still clunky and riddled with issues, and Chrysler killed it off in 1959 due to poor sales.

5

Chevrolet Liquid Tire Chain

Today, we have technologically advanced vehicles and a wide choice of quality winter tires to keep us safe in snowy or icy conditions. In the 1960s, however, options were more limited, and poor weather conditions made accidents much more likely. Chevrolet attempted to find a solution to this problem in 1969, with a chemical solution referred to as a “liquid tire chain”.

This polymer compound was stored in a canister, positioned strategically to spray directly onto the rear tires when needed. The system could be activated directly through a button on the instrument panel. This feature was only available as an option for the 1969 model year, with only 2,600 customers opting to have it installed.

6

VW Dash-Mounted Coffee Maker

The Volkswagen Beetle is best known for its iconic design, worldwide popularity (it was the first car in history to sell over 20 million units) and mechanical simplicity; it is not commonly associated with luxury features. Volkswagen did, however, briefly build a coffee maker accessory designed to be installed on the Bug in the late 1950s.

The coffee maker was called the “Hertella Auto Kaffeemaschine”; there are very few surviving examples and information is scarce, but we do know it consisted of a simple heated pot (which essentially brews coffee as if it were tea) and a set of cups with a magnetic disc on the bottom, which secured them to the unit. The machine was attached to the car’s dashboard with a bracket in what looks like a fairly precarious layout. It would be another half century before the art of in-car coffee making would be perfected by the Italians, with the Fiat 500L.

7

Automatic Seatbelts

Automatic seatbelts were once near-ubiquitous in the car world, but disappeared as quickly as they arrived. First being introduced in the late 1970s, they were seen as providing a safety improvement and a convenience boost, saving drivers and passengers from having to fasten their own seatbelt (not exactly the biggest hassle). The system consisted of a sliding mechanism that went from the A-pillar to the B-pillar, placing the fastened seat belt across the occupant’s chest. The lap component of the seat belt was frequently separate and still had to be fastened manually.

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Automatic seatbelts had many issues, namely a complex mechanism that was prone to failure, and did not really contribute to better safety outcomes; the convenience aspect was also negligible, and by the turn of the millennium, the standard seatbelts we use today had become more commonplace.

8

Talking Cars

The idea of a “talking car” might evoke modern voice assistants like Siri or Alexa, but the concept is actually much older, dating back around four decades. The 1980s automotive world was all about futuristic-looking graphic interfaces and car features, jumping on the bandwagon of the decade’s cultural obsession with computers and technology.

Automotive voice technology of the era, whether it used pre-recorded messages or a speech synthesis system, was a part of this: the car was able to tell its driver when fuel was low, a door was open, or a light was left on. These systems weren’t particularly popular and disappeared by the end of the decade, but the concept of a talking car lives on with today’s voice-control systems, albeit in a slightly different way.

9

Toyota Van Ice Maker

In the second half of the 80s, Toyota’s unimaginatively-named Van promised practical and comfortable travel for the whole family. Its unusual layout, including an engine installed under the cabin floor that could be accessed through the driver’s seat, already set it apart from the crowd; but there’s one optional feature that makes it particularly unusual.

The Van’s LE (Limited Edition) trim offered a refrigerator complete with ice maker, nestled in between the front seats. Air conditioning refrigerant lines doubled as the mini-fridge/freezer’s cooling mechanism. This feature stopped being available when the Van was replaced by the Previa in 1990; we can imagine it having several practical problems, including proliferation of germs due to moisture and the build-up of smell over the years.

10

Eco-Friendly Wiring

Sometimes, attempts at being environmentally friendly backfire badly, as many automakers found out when attempting to choose greener materials for wiring insulation. The soy-based coating which became popular in recent years, and is still used on many models today, is known to be very attractive to rats: there have been several cases of rodents chewing through soy-based wiring, leading to catastrophic damage to vehicles.

While some, including automakers themselves, insist that the material is not the cause of the incidents, and that rodents chew through anything including regular plastic, the amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting they find soy-based wiring to be a particularly tasty snack is very large. After all the lawsuits filed by angry customers, it’s safe to say that this is one feature that has not aged well.

Sources: News24, Toyota, Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Car Trade Insider, McCarthy Collision Centers, Throwin’ Wrenches