2 High-Tech Features New Car Shoppers Really Don’t Care About
Andrew Koole
· 3 min read
You don’t need to be told that cars are becoming more digital, more automated, and more connected to our devices. The evolution of
automotive technology
is moving faster than ever before, and most of these advancements come in the form of safety features.It’s difficult to separate the features offered by automakers from the desires of consumers. Do people want something that engineers then create for them, or do automakers invent features and market them to convince consumers that they want them?
Answering this question is like solving the classic “chicken or the egg” riddle, but a recent study conducted by research firm AutoPacific sheds some light on how new tech becomes accepted by drivers over time. In two words, it all comes down to familiarity and money.
AutoPacific’s new car feature survey
To get an idea of how current consumers feel about the latest automotive tech on the market,
AutoPacific
asked 90,000 new car buyers to rank 100 tech features from most to least enticing. The top 10 most popular features revealed two key objectives for drivers: comfort and safety. Four of the 10 top-ranking features were related to seat comfort and adjustability. Of the remaining six, three were advanced safety features—blind-spot monitoring, front and rear parking sensors, and lane-departure warnings.
All of the most favored features were well-established and available in many modern cars. In most cases, buying a new car means getting at least a few of the features that made the top-10 list.
MORE: The Most Beautiful Cars of 2021
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Last picks for new car features
On the flip side,
Kelley Blue Book
listed seven of the surveyees’ least desired features, which were only available in luxury models
, if at all. The two least popular features were fully autonomous driving without a steering wheel and concierge services.Fully autonomous driving has been under scrutiny a lot this year, thanks in part to
Tesla
’s self-proclaimed “Full Self Driving” mode which still requires a driver in the front seat of the car paying attention with their hands on the wheel. The criticism could explain why most survey participants didn’t want a car without a steering wheel that can drive itself, but it’s more likely that they didn’t want to pay for such a high-tech vehicle.
As for concierge services, part of the reason the feature didn’t rank better might be because it wasn’t defined very well.
Some common features, like digital weather and traffic updates offered through Apple Car Play and Android Auto (the survey’s sixth most popular feature), could be considered part of a concierge service. It could be that the fancy term made people think it would be expensive.
What the car feature survey tells us
MORE: 4 Best High-Tech Cars With Great Performance for 2021
The results of AutoPacific’s survey raise a lot of interesting questions and points for discussion, but one thing is for sure—people like things that are familiar and affordable. Who knows, once fully autonomous vehicles are more readily available, maybe more people will want them.
When it comes to choosing the tech features in your new car, keep in mind how each option will affect the price, not just of the car but also your
car insurance
. Fancy new gadgets will be expensive to replace if you’re in a collision, so your insurer will likely raise your rate accordingly.If you want cheap car insurance quotes fast, go to
Jerry
. A licensed broker that offers end-to-end support, the Jerry app gathers affordable quotes, helps you switch plans, and will even help you cancel your old policy.
