Some Auto Features Go The Way Of The Dinosaur

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Some Auto Features Go Way Of Dinosaur
Remember Bench Seats, Ashtrays, Window Cranks?
Josh Nichols, Staff writer

Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sjlocke
If you want to confuse a teenager today, really take them out of their element, you could do worse than to plop him or her in a 1970 Chevelle or a vintage Lincoln Town Car.

Looking around at the ashtrays, crank windows and manual locks, sitting in what could have been their grandfather's car, they might as well be in another world.

Car design changes quickly, and features that were once standard in just about every car on the road have mostly gone the way of the dinosaur.

Ashtrays
The move to ashtray-free cars began at Chrysler, whose 1995 Cirrus and Dodge Stratus sedans were the first to be sold without ashtrays as standard equipment. Today, you're much more likely to find a power outlet for a cell phone or MP3 player where the push-in lighter once was, and ashtrays have mostly been replaced by cup holders and storage compartments.

Not only is it a question of an anti-smoking movement, but also of space. According to the United Health Foundation, about 20.8 percent of the population smokes, which means about 60 million people. According to Apple, more than 100 million people have bought iPods. When you add in iPhones, Blackberrys and various other cell phones, it's clear the smokers are simply outnumbered.

But they aren't totally extinct. For $15 to $100, car buyers can get a smokers group option that includes ashtrays and cigarette lighters. Plus, some luxury automakers such as Rolls Royce still include ashtrays for their humidor-owning customers.

Bench Seats
If you're in the market for a pickup truck, you'll easily be able to find one with front bench seats. But if you want a car with that once-common feature, good luck.

While big cars were once renowned for their ability carry six people -- more if you didn't mind a little squishing -- the number of cars with front bench seats that can accommodate three riders has declined over the years.

A few years back, Toyota dropped the bench seat from its Avalon because 92 percent of buyers were choosing the models with bucket seats.

These days, only about a half-dozen American-branded autos in the full-size class offer six-passenger seating, including the Buick Lucerne, Cadillac DTS, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car.

Window Cranks
If you want to confuse a child, put him in a car with a crank window. Most kids these days have never seen anything but power windows and wouldn't know what to do with a crank handle.

In 2006, Honda became the first of the large automakers to banish the crank window, moving entirely to power windows as standard equipment.

However, with the demand for affordable cars rising, some automakers are paying attention. The lower-priced Chevy Cobalt LS and Toyota Corolla are some of the few cars these days to feature the hand-crank standard. While power windows are available as an option on the Corolla, Cobalt owners don't get that choice.

And India's Tata Nano, proclaimed by its makers as the world's cheapest car, goes on sale this spring with a price tag of just over $2,000 and crank windows.

Cassette Decks
You could argue that the CD player could just as likely belong on this list. With the popularity of MP3 players and satellite radio, CDs are fading and cassette decks are all put a distant memory.

Some automakers, such as Lexus, still offer vehicles with cassette decks, but more and more are focusing on new technology. According to the market research firm iSuppli, USB ports are available on 25 percent of all 2009 vehicles, up from 12 percent in 2008, and iPod interfaces are now on a full third of all 2009 models.

Apple, meanwhile, claims that around 80 percent of cars have iPod compatibility, although the company includes even simple line-in jacks that work with everything from iPods to old Walkman cassette players.

Manual Locks
Today's drivers have become so reliant on power everything that a Florida woman recently called 911 because she was stuck inside her powerless car unable to figure out how to unlock the doors.

The fact is the days of the old manual "pull-up" locks are just about gone. In a time where many people don't even use a key to enter or start their cars, the manual lock is just about extinct.

Again, like the crank windows, the manual lock seems to have found a final holdout in economy models, as some automakers seek to limit auto features to only the most essential items in their cheapest models. The Corolla and Cobalt LS both feature manual locks standard and the sub-$13,000 stickered base models of the Nissan Versa, Kia Rio and Hyundai Accent are without power locks as well.

Still, today's driver has likely forgotten entirely, if they ever knew, what it was like to have to stretch across into the backseat to unlock the rear passenger side door.

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The story Some Auto Features Go Way Of Dinosaur is provided by LifeWhile.

Some Auto Features Go Way Of Dinosaur
Remember Bench Seats, Ashtrays, Window Cranks?
Josh Nichols, Staff writer

Posted: Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sjlocks
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[Fleet]

All of my cars have bench seats. The '69 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham and '95 Lincoln Town Car have split bench seats and the '76 Cadillac Limousine has a one-piece bench seat.

All of them also have power door locks and ashtrays. The limo has 6 ashtrays- two in the front, two in the rear for the back seat passengers and two more for the jump seat passengers.

The Lincoln has a cassette player; both Cads have the original stereo radio; no cassette player. One of my former Cadillacs, a '71 Fleetwood Brougham, had an 8-track player which still worked. I still have that unit (the radio/8-track player)... that thing is heavy!

[PZelda]

...*stares at thread*

My mom's car, a 2000 Toyota model, has an ashtray, cigarette lighter, cassette AND CD player, crank windows, and power locks. But to an extent - there's only one power button on the console to unlock/lock the doors. But if one of us turns the key in one direction twice, it'll unlock all doors.

These newer cars may be newfangled and confusing kids now, but what about when they start driving in the late 2010s/early 2020s? More than likely, cars from the 90s and earlier will still be around for them to have as their first car.

I have never ridden in a pre-1950s car, but am already familiar with what was available in cars then. Rumble seats, no seat belts, no heater/AC, and they certainly didn't have ashtrays, cigarette lighters or some kind of music player/radio!

This article makes me want to smack a bitch.

[ponytail]

I have a 2006 Vibe and I have crank windows and manual locks. It can be a pain when you have to reach over and manually do stuff but it's no big deal.

[dawsongirl]

Gee...now I feel old and I'm not even 30 yet.

Last car we had (still have actually) that had a cassette player is a 1998 model. My old car, which was the same model year, didn't have that option. A useless option anyway, seeing as no one sells cassette tapes anymore.

I don't even know if my car has an ashtray. LOL Guess I need to look. They're still a good place to put change.

And to the people who couldn't figure out a crank window....you're an idiot.

[PZelda]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

Gee...now I feel old and I'm not even 30 yet.

Last car we had (still have actually) that had a cassette player is a 1998 model. My old car, which was the same model year, didn't have that option. A useless option anyway, seeing as no one sells cassette tapes anymore.

I don't even know if my car has an ashtray. LOL Guess I need to look. They're still a good place to put change.

And to the people who couldn't figure out a crank window....you're an idiot.

I was in the Apple store just outside of Minneapolis two weeks ago, and was checking out their accessories section. They sell these things you can put into cassette players to make your iPod play when you're in the car. There are STILL people out there driving old cars, so it's great that they thought of this and try not to leave their customer base out in the cold.

Also, agreed on the count about ashtrays holding change. The little coin holders that come with cars sometimes really don't hold much anyway. Heh. Cup holders work too if they're deep enough and you rarely have a 2nd person riding with you.

Oh, and the crank windows in cars... There are houses that have crank windows, too. They may not always have the crank handle, but they're still cranks. THEY SHOULD NOT CONFUSE PEOPLE. Good lord.

[Doodyville10019]

I remember (and lived through) ALL that stuff and MORE. I can even remember back to when the first car I remember riding in (a 1964 Ford Fairlane station wagon) did not have air conditioning - today, it's a standard feature on most cars.

[dawsongirl]

Originally Posted by PZelda

Oh, and the crank windows in cars... There are houses that have crank windows, too. They may not always have the crank handle, but they're still cranks. THEY SHOULD NOT CONFUSE PEOPLE. Good lord.

We have those. Turn crank one way, window go open. Turn it the other way, window go close. OPEN, CLOSED.

Damn...that was confusing.

[Jude The Obscure]

As if progress is all that great.....my previous vehicle was a 1993 Chevy Astro van whose power windows DID NOT work, the A/C did not work either, so I basically smothered the whole time I rode in it. I would have given anything just for good old crank windows!

And this is one person who is grateful for his CD player in the car that also plays Mp3s on CDs.........fading fast, my foot.......the author wrote this article with such a snob of pretention.

[catlover79]

Gosh, I remember the good old station wagon my grandparents had then gave to my parents once one of our old cars finally gave up the ghost. They pulled down the seat and let us sprawl out in the back - no seat belts on - going about 65 on the freeway. Which I think is illegal, but we made it through OK, thank God. By the way, once the parents bought the car, we were never allowed to pull the seat back and spawl all over the back. The only time they ever did that was whenever they grocery-shopped or went on vacation - without us and whenever they had a lot of cargo with them.

I drive a 1994 VW with manual locks, tape deck and manual windows. As of now, don't have the dough to upgrade.