An entertainment system that has been present in cars for 40 years has now completely disappeared from new models, and many drivers will be angry about it.
The car CD player is officially dead after the last manufacturer offering one in a vehicle discontinued its availability and, like all other brands, switched to streaming services.
While this means drivers will no longer need to clutter the interior of their cars with boxes of CDs, it raises another concern around driver distraction, as they will now have to scroll through menus on the infotainment screen to change tracks and switch between their favourite artists.
The end of the in-car CD player: Which? confirms that no new cars come with a CD player as standard as the market shifts towards streaming services. But could this be more disconcerting?
Subaru was the last brand to sell a model with an in-car CD player, according to Which?
But that changed this year.
The Japanese carmaker has stripped the Forester SUV of its CD player as part of a model update in early 2024.
As part of the facelift, the CD player has been ditched in favor of built-in streaming services via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto or by connecting a smartphone via USB, bringing the Forester in line with the rest of its model lineup.
Subaru was the last brand to sell a model with an in-car CD player. The Japanese automaker stripped its Forester SUV of its CD player as part of a model refresh in early 2024.
We are ending four decades of CD players in cars, with Mercedes-Benz being the first to offer this technology in 1985 as a successor to the cassette player.
The last new model sold with a cassette player disappeared more recently than expected: Lexus still sold one in its SC model until 2009.
Although cars with large CD changers (usually located in the boot or glovebox) have not been sold in the UK for many years, it is only last year that a selection of new models with single-disc players have become available.
These included the Subaru XV, the Porsche 718 and the Lexus LC.
But now the Subaru Forester has ditched the humble CD player, it really is the end of an era, claims Which?, after claiming to have analysed the entire new car market as part of its research.
Of all the new vehicles currently available, the Isuzu D-Max pickup truck is the only one available with a CD player.
At the time of writing, three of the four trim levels come with one, so be sure not to accidentally get the one without it if you’re in the market for a pickup truck.
Unsurprisingly, not everyone will be happy with the news of the demise of CD players in cars.
According to data from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association, CD sales saw a 3.2 percent year-over-year increase in the first half of 2024.
And drivers have already complained about not being able to play their CDs in their new engines.
As part of Which?’s latest annual car reliability survey, drivers were asked what frustrates them most about their cars, with many respondents expressing dismay at the lack of a CD player.
“I’m very disappointed that there is no option to install a CD player,” said one owner of a Ford Focus Estate (2018 onwards), while a driver of a Dacia Sandero (2013-2021) commented: “I regret the lack of a CD player.” Many other owners simply exclaimed: “There is no CD player!”
According to data from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association, CD sales saw a 3.2% year-over-year increase in the first half of 2024. And many drivers still prefer to have one rather than plugging in their smartphone or using a streaming app on the infotainment screen.
Loss of CD players causes another distraction while driving
New car buyers now need to familiarize themselves with the world of streaming music while on the move.
This has its advantages, not the least of which is the fact that you can listen to a huge library of songs in your car, certainly more than would be possible with a wallet full of CDs.
And with many cars connecting seamlessly to your phone using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, streaming from services like Amazon Music and Spotify has never been easier.
However, operating streaming services through infotainment screens is another distraction for drivers when on the move.
Independent car safety body Euro NCAP announced plans earlier this year to downgrade the safety ratings of cars that do not have physical buttons to control five key functions due to concerns about distractions.
Starting January 1, 2026, vehicles without physical buttons or switches for turn signals, hazard lights, horn, wipers and SOS function will also receive lower crash test scores.
Matthew Avery, Euro NCAP’s director of strategic development, explained: ‘Overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide issue, with almost all vehicle manufacturers moving key controls to central touchscreens, forcing drivers to take their eyes off the road and increasing the risk of distracted crashes.
‘New Euro NCAP tests planned for 2026 will encourage manufacturers to use separate physical controls for basic functions in an intuitive way, thereby limiting the time we spend looking away from the road and thus promoting safer driving.’
The growing trend to remove buttons and add more control functions to touchscreens is said to be “undermining” the ban on using a phone behind the wheel, which from March 2022 will lead to motorists who touch their device being hit with six penalty points on their licence and a £200 fine (and if within two years of passing their test, costing them their licence) if detected by police or road cameras.
Road safety experts have been warning for years that modern cars pose an increasing danger.
Designers love the use of larger, higher-definition displays because they remove, as they see it, unnecessary “clutter” from the dashboard to create a clean, minimalist feel.
Industrial accountants also prefer this configuration because it reduces costs by eliminating switches and wiring in favor of an iPad-style dashboard driven by downloadable software.
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