With the advance of technology, many in-car accessories have become obsolete; like the cassette player that has completely disappeared from the automotive industry. The CD player will most likely share the same fate soon, but while these accessories are eliminated from cars due to the progress of technology, others are just eliminated because carmakers want to.
Take the cigarette lighter, for instance. I have yet to see a car without a cigarette lighter available, partially because smokers make up a sizeable portion of buyers in many markets and partially due to the fact that people also use them to charge a variety of gadgets – from phones, to small vacuum cleaners and portable air pumps for tires.
However, Hyundai has decided that the cigarette lighter has to go in order to free up space for USB ports, according to a report from the Financial Times. For the moment, the decision has only been implemented in South Korea, where all new Hyundai cars built from October 1 no longer have cigarette lighters. Instead of this smoker’s accessory, the carmaker has mounted an USB port.
This is the first explicit ban of the cigarette lighter by any global carmaker and it may expand to Hyundai’s cars built for overseas markets as well.
The first in-car cigarette lighter is said to have arrived in 1925, but during the last two decades, there has been a constant crackdown on smoking, especially in the western world. Add to that the fact that many countries are considering a ban on smoking in private cars as they consider in-car smoking both a health and safety hazard and Hyundai’s decision may seem reasonable.
Chrysler made a similar choice in the mid-1990s when it eliminated the ashtray from its cars. I’m just curious to see the smokers’ points of view on this issue. Will it hurt Hyundai’s popularity among smokers or it is a minor problem?
By Dan Mihalascu
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