Latest from The Drive
The Drive
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
A Shocking Amount of People Say Car Cupholders Are ‘Difficult to Use'
The consumer insight researchers at J.D. Power and Associates run an annual Initial Quality Survey (IQS) on new car buyers. It yields a comparative list of how satisfied people are with new cars from all of our market's major brands. It also exposes features and trends that buyers like and don't. And this year, one of the biggest jumps in car-owner complaints was about cupholders. J.D. Power's IQS press release lays it out like this: 'While it seemed like manufacturers had cupholders figured out, given that owners are now bringing more reusable containers into their vehicles, manufacturers are struggling to keep up with being able to accommodate all the different shapes and sizes that are increasingly available. Consequently, owners are again citing more problems in this area, with the expectation that their vehicle should be able to hold different sizes of containers.' I got some more context for us on that from Frank Hanley, J.D. Power's Senior Director, Auto Benchmarking. 'When looking at the top 10 problems for the [industry] 'cupholders – difficult to use' went from being the [seventh] most problematic issue for the vehicle to the [third] most reported this year,' he explained over email. Third-most-problematic sounds high, no? Elaborating, Hanley added [sic]: 'In the survey we ask owners about 227 specific areas where they can report issues with their vehicles across 10 categories. Owners also have the ability to write in any problems that are not listed. Cup holders this year was the 3rd most reported of those 227 items.' 'Everything a customer does mark a problem we ask additional follow up questions that pertain to the issue including having them write in a comment. When reading these comments it was clear that more customers are complaining about the cup holders not being able to hold the larger cup sizes being brought into the vehicles well like Yetis and Stanley mugs. The larger cups are also intruding on access to other areas in the center tunnel like storage spaces and controls in the center stack depending on the positioning of the cup holders.' As a lover of both old cars and giant coffee cups, I feel this pain deeply. Driving my 20-year-old manual-shift BMW with a drink in the center console is equally hilarious and annoying. But I'm a little surprised people are having this issue with new cars—a lot of the press loaners I'm in seem to accommodate cups well enough. Or, maybe, is it possible that I just don't have a big enough coffee cup? It's funny to think of product planners at car companies trying to track the next trend in travel mugs as they spec out center console cupholder designs. I remember talking to somebody at a German automaker years ago, with a question along the lines of 'why aren't the cupholders bigger,' and his frustration at the concept of cupholders at all was not well hidden. He said something like, 'Why do you need to drink while you drive? Just stop at a cafe.' Trust, if I could spend my days sipping cappuccinos at roadside rest stops in Europe, that's exactly where I'd be writing this from right now. But here in America, I have to drive 100 miles through the mud, uphill both ways, just to get my groceries. And I'm not about to sit anywhere for that long without a little coffee to suck on, goshdang it. Jokes aside, I very much do like to sip a beverage while cruising, and a good cupholder does go a long way in interior ergonomics. So while it does sound silly that so many people would complain about something as trivial as beverage storage, I kind of get it. And I guess it's good news that one of America's biggest issues with their new cars could be solved by simply switching to a smaller cup? As for automakers trying to keep up with cup trends, here's a free pitch: Cupholder adapters.
The Drive
13 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Cars Are Caught in an Endless Cycle of Bigger Screens Nobody Really Likes
The latest car news, reviews, and features. J.D. Power released the results of its 2025 Initial Quality Study on Thursday, and—surprise, surprise—the number one reported problem area industry-wide is infotainment. While the systems themselves are becoming more visually impressive and they're better-integrated into the overall design of most vehicles than early attempts, customers complain more about these systems than they do anything else in their brand-new cars. In short, customers love the way these big screens look, but virtually all of them are a pain to operate. So why the heck does every new car introduction come with a bigger, more feature-bloated touchscreen? Well, it's complicated. But as usual, it all comes down to money. The 'why' makes more sense if you consider the broader industry push to re-brand the traditional ( spits ) infotainment system as an all-in-one control center. Functions that were once tied to physical controls on the dash and center console have been steadily migrating into this space. Headlight toggles, home garage door controls, and even glove box releases are now making their way into vehicular touchscreen interfaces, in many instances joining basic audio and climate controls that were moved there years ago. Automakers sell it as a way to free up space on the dash and center console. For what? So far, the answer has mostly been 'more screens.' One might call that a lateral move. With all the extra room, you'd think they'd be able to keep up with America's fancy cup obsession. And given the positive feedback automakers have received for the more-minimalist interior designs that often result, the effort hasn't entirely been for naught. Mercedes-Benz Hyperscreen Plus, centralized touchscreen control systems save automakers money, especially when implemented in cars with a broad selection of available doodads. While software development isn't free, it's far more forgiving than designing, prototyping, testing, sourcing and maintaining a supply of physical control components. An infotainment module may cost more than a switch, but you'd be surprised how quickly that math changes when one switch becomes five—or fifty. But in designing for this internal convenience, automakers are taking a gamble that their buyers will learn to live with the resulting compromises. What's often left unsaid is the fact that we're increasingly running the risk that a failed infotainment system could effectively 'brick' a car completely. And eliminating those physical controls doesn't eliminate the need for them, forcing automakers to add new infotainment menus, tiles, and pages—and in some cases, entirely new screens—that its customers must then navigate. This clutter annoys critics and customers alike. 'Owners find these things to be overly complicated and too distracting to use while driving,' said J.D. Power's Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking. 'By retaining dedicated physical controls for some of these interactions, automakers can alleviate pain points and simplify the overall customer experience.' Tesla's rear seat interface But even as some automakers pledge to bring buttons back, there's no reason to expect they will come at the expense of established display real estate. Even if customers are frustrated by the experience offered by their large displays, they still enjoy looking at them, and as those screens get bigger and bigger and take over space that was once reserved for other features, those features will have to go somewhere. Right? With each generation, more features are incorporated into the screen. To avoid excessive menus, the screens get bigger to accommodate those new functions. It's an endless cycle fueled equally by feature bloat and the desire to cut potentially redundant physical components—which equate to finding ways to charge more money for less car. And then there's the unspoken financial opportunity presented by a more robust digital infrastructure. Unless you've been living under a rock your entire life, you know by now that a screen is always at risk of becoming a new avenue by which somebody can sell you something. New features? Maintenance plans? Subscription services? Those are all tough to sell through a button. Just ask GM. So as you read the next car reveal, and you peruse the interior section to see what inconveniences await its new buyers, remember that a bigger screen does three things: it sells new cars to wide-eyed customers, saves the automaker a ton of money on components, and it offers the tantalizing possibility of future revenue streams. Nope, these screens aren't going anywhere . Do you also like to yell at clouds? Commiserate with the author at byron@
The Drive
13 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
A Shocking Amount of People Say Car Cupholders Are 'Difficult to Use'
The latest car news, reviews, and features. The consumer insight researchers at J.D. Power and Associates run an annual Initial Quality Survey (IQS) on new car buyers. It yields a comparative list of how satisfied people are with new cars from all of our market's major brands. It also exposes features and trends that buyers like and don't. And this year, one of the biggest jumps in car-owner complaints was about cupholders. J.D. Power's IQS press release lays it out like this: 'While it seemed like manufacturers had cupholders figured out, given that owners are now bringing more reusable containers into their vehicles, manufacturers are struggling to keep up with being able to accommodate all the different shapes and sizes that are increasingly available. Consequently, owners are again citing more problems in this area, with the expectation that their vehicle should be able to hold different sizes of containers.' I got some more context for us on that from Frank Hanley, J.D. Power's Senior Director, Auto Benchmarking. 'When looking at the top 10 problems for the [industry] 'cupholders – difficult to use' went from being the [seventh] most problematic issue for the vehicle to the [third] most reported this year,' he explained over email. Third-most-problematic sounds high, no? Climate-controlled cupholders seemed neat when we started seeing them years ago, but now that everybody's coffee cup is insulated, the idea is kind of redundant. Adobe Elaborating, Hanley added [sic]: 'In the survey we ask owners about 227 specific areas where they can report issues with their vehicles across 10 categories. Owners also have the ability to write in any problems that are not listed. Cup holders this year was the 3rd most reported of those 227 items.' 'Everything a customer does mark a problem we ask additional follow up questions that pertain to the issue including having them write in a comment. When reading these comments it was clear that more customers are complaining about the cup holders not being able to hold the larger cup sizes being brought into the vehicles well like Yetis and Stanley mugs. The larger cups are also intruding on access to other areas in the center tunnel like storage spaces and controls in the center stack depending on the positioning of the cup holders.' As a lover of both old cars and giant coffee cups, I feel this pain deeply. Driving my 20-year-old manual-shift BMW with a drink in the center console is equally hilarious and annoying. But I'm a little surprised people are having this issue with new cars—a lot of the press loaners I'm in seem to accommodate cups well enough. Or, maybe, is it possible that I just don't have a big enough coffee cup? It's funny to think of product planners at car companies trying to track the next trend in travel mugs as they spec out center console cupholder designs. I remember talking to somebody at a German automaker years ago, with a question along the lines of 'why aren't the cupholders bigger,' and his frustration at the concept of cupholders at all was not well hidden. He said something like, 'Why do you need to drink while you drive? Just stop at a cafe.' Trust, if I could spend my days sipping cappuccinos at roadside rest stops in Europe, that's exactly where I'd be writing this from right now. But here in America, I have to drive 100 miles through the mud, uphill both ways, just to get my groceries. And I'm not about to sit anywhere for that long without a little coffee to suck on, goshdang it. Jokes aside, I very much do like to sip a beverage while cruising, and a good cupholder does go a long way in interior ergonomics. So while it does sound silly that so many people would complain about something as trivial as beverage storage, I kind of get it. And I guess it's good news that one of America's biggest issues with their new cars could be solved by simply switching to a smaller cup? As for automakers trying to keep up with cup trends, here's a free pitch: Cupholder adapters. Got a great or terrible cupholder situation in your car? I want to hear about it at
The Drive
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Mercedes-AMG Might Be Having a Windows Vista Moment With These Four-Cylinder Hybrids
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Multi-billion-dollar companies get so caught up in innovation that they focus more on what they could do than what they should do. Sure, the products are usually impressive from a technological standpoint, but oftentimes, they're way worse to use. One example that comes to mind is Windows Vista—the fresh-looking operating system from 2007 that people absolutely hated to work with. Another more recent example is the four-cylinder plug-in hybrid Mercedes-AMG models that used to run twin-turbo V8s. Like Windows Vista, Mercedes-AMG's small-displacement PHEVs are great in theory. Microsoft marketed better security and enhanced search functionality with its OS; meanwhile, Mercedes bragged about its 671 horsepower with electric turbo anti-lag and supercar-like zero-to-60 times. But just as customers grew massively frustrated with Vista and its inability to run on older computers without crashing, drivers decided that all that power from an electrified AMG isn't any good if you can't hear it. Vista's predecessor, Windows XP, was admittedly showing its age by the time the new version came along, but like the old-fashioned V8, it worked—and on the rare occasion that it didn't, its users knew how to identify, troubleshoot, and eliminate those shortcomings. See the resemblance? Microsoft / Mercedes-AMG Mercedes acknowledges this now as it's reportedly moving away from the four-cylinders to build more inline-sixes and V8s. Autocar cites a source at Mercedes as saying, 'Technically, the four-cylinder is one of the most advanced drivetrains available in a production car. It's also right up there on performance. But despite this, it failed to resonate with our traditional customers. We've recognized that.' This would also mean that, like Vista, the four-cylinder AMG C63 and GLC63 didn't last long. If you'll remember, those only launched three years ago, in 2022. That's even shorter than Vista, which received mainstream support for five years, through 2012. Still, Microsoft's faux pas was far more widespread. Estimates claim some 330 million people were tortured by Vista, while far fewer than 100,000 ever took a chance on the AMGs that whir like a vacuum cleaner. 'We jumped far ahead with this technology, but we should have explained the technology more to our salespeople and customers,' explained AMG boss Michael Schiebe to Car Magazine in April. 'We will continue to do that and further improve. There is a German saying, 'You never have a second chance at a first impression.' Maybe we missed out on the first impression, but if you have the opportunity, I'm sure you will be convinced of the technology.' The list of Vista criticisms is longer, too—enough to warrant not just a Wikipedia tab but an entire page. Everybody's beef with the electrified four-cylinders is pretty much the same: They sound bad. That's a pretty big problem considering the customers they're marketed to. Mercedes was so sure people wouldn't mind the switch from twin-turbo V8s to plug-in hybrid four-cylinders, and really, that's as crazy as it seems. Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@
The Drive
16 hours ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Big Rig Clips Bucket Truck Leaving Worker Dangling For Dear Life
The latest car news, reviews, and features. A technician servicing a traffic light had a horrible day at work this week when a semi-truck thwacked the bucket they were suspended over an intersection in, leaving them dangling upside-down over the pavement. Somebody's dash cam captured the scene perfectly. The worker was lucky enough to escape without major physical harm, but I doubt they'll be excited to go back up in one of those buckets after this. The video clip is pretty dramatic. The incident occurred in Denham Springs, Louisiana, which is a little east of Baton Rouge. The clip has been uploaded to all kinds of YouTube channels and Facebook groups, apparently originally uploaded to Facebook by Bill Atkinson: Local ABC news channel WBRZ talked to the Denham Springs Police Department and reported that 'the worker suffered only minor injuries and was not taken to the hospital because they had a harness on.' I never thought about those guys having safety harnesses, but now that I'm seeing this clip, of course, it makes sense. The investigation, and whether or not any charges will be filed, are pending. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development has to get involved because the traffic light in the video is operated by the state. Looks like the service crew was either from a local agency or a third party, though. The markings on the work trucks don't look like LaDOTD ones. 'I don't know how that truck could have made that turn without hitting one pole on one side without hitting the truck,' East Baton Rouge Parish Director of Transportation Fred Raiford told WBRZ . The outlet shared Raiford's comments on safety as well: 'Anytime people is working in the roadways, there's signage that's required or there's barricades saying this part of the lane will be closed.' Apparently, lane closures are not always required by policy for certain road work situations, though. As far as I can tell, the big rig driver and the road crew share the blame for this one. Anyone driving anything should be aware of the space their vehicle occupies, especially commercial drivers. The person running that big rig is responsible for the airspace that the top of the cab and trailer take up. That said, putting somebody in a bucket over an open lane of traffic seems nuts to me. Why the heck would you not put signs and cones out to keep vehicles from driving under the person working up in the harness? I'm guessing that's the question the Louisiana DOT will be pondering when they investigate the incident. At least the person up there had their harness on. Be careful out there, sometimes there can be things to crash into where you don't expect them! Got a tip? Drop us a line at tips@
