Here Are the New Car Features You Would Pay to Remove

Photo: Marin Tomas (Getty Images)

One of the most persistent myths in any industry or market is that buyers vote with their wallets. That conveniently overlooks the underlying conditions of any exchange of goods and services, wherein the only thing people can buy is whatever is being sold in the first place. Not everyone likes what is currently for sale when it comes to modern cars, so we wanted to know what new car features our readers would happily pay to remove.

Indeed, automakers have as much control over what people buy (or don’t) as their customers do, and yet there are changes many new car owners have had to begrudgingly accept. These range from touchscreens that’ve taken over the cabin to the chagrin of button-lovers everywhere, to ADAS systems that increase driver safety, but don’t always operate as smoothly as owners would want.

It seems the overwhelming majority of you aren’t great fans of auto stop-start systems, which are meant to reduce emissions by shutting off a car’s engine rather than let it idle. I admit I used to hate the feature, but came around to it once I drove enough vehicles with unobtrusive auto stop-start. There’s a good argument for its effectiveness in lowering emissions, although a middle ground might exist: maybe if ICE-equipped cars were as efficient in 2023 as they should rightfully be, we wouldn’t rely on “ASS” features. Oh, well. So, here just a few of the features in modern cars that our readers would pay to get rid of: