From sleek touchscreen dashboards to concealed electronic door handles, contemporary vehicles are brimming with cutting-edge technology. However, a recent study suggests it might be time to rewind the automotive clock, as online car retailer Cazoo has uncovered the vintage car features that are leaving Generation Z utterly perplexed.
The Survey of Forgotten Features
Cazoo conducted comprehensive research, polling 2,000 young adults about retro automotive components that were standard in vehicles merely a generation ago. The findings are astonishing, revealing that the majority of Gen Z respondents cannot identify features that were once prolific in car design.
The most bewildering item was the choke, a device employed in older carbureted engines to assist with cold starts. A mere eight percent of those surveyed correctly recognised this feature. Similarly, only 41 percent could identify a traditional cigarette lighter, once a ubiquitous fixture in automobiles.
Expert Insight on Automotive Evolution
Charlie Harvey, Motoring Expert at Cazoo, commented on the rapid transformation. "Car design has evolved massively in the last 20 years, and it's fascinating to observe how swiftly knowledge of obsolete car features has faded," he stated. "Some elements, like the choke, are better consigned to history, given the superior refinement of modern fuel-injected engines. Yet, there are other features that are sorely missed, such as physical tactile buttons and eye-catching pop-up headlights."
With dozens of new models, from hybrids to family SUVs, launched annually, each packed with innovative functionalities, Cazoo's team aimed to understand how quickly car features become historical relics.
Top Baffling Features Identified
Following the choke, the T-bar or T-top ranked as the second most confusing feature, with 90 percent of Gen Z unable to identify it. This refers to a car roof design featuring two removable panels flanking a rigid, central T-shaped bar.
The list continues with the manual aerial, recognised by only 28 percent of respondents, the car ashtray at 35 percent, and the cigarette lighter at 41 percent. For decades, cigarette lighters were standard in most vehicles, but as smoking rates declined and health awareness rose in the late 1990s, manufacturers began phasing them out. By the 2010s, most new cars replaced them with 12V outlets or USB ports.
Additional Retro Features Fading from Memory
Other classic components that have slipped from Gen Z's recognition include pop-up headlights, cassette players, manual window winders, and traditional key ignitions. Surprisingly, the survey also found that 27 percent of Gen Z no longer recognise a manual handbrake.
A recent analysis by This is Money highlighted that over 90 percent of new vehicles now feature electronic parking brakes instead of conventional pull-lever handbrakes. While electronic systems offer convenience, they can be easily forgotten to engage and are often more than three times costlier to repair than their manual counterparts.
Nostalgia for Retro Design Elements
Despite the confusion, the survey revealed a yearning among some Gen Z members for a return to certain retro features. One-third expressed a preference for physical buttons over modern touchscreens, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) indicated they would like to see cassette and CD players reintroduced in contemporary cars.
Safety Concerns with Modern Innovations
This research emerges amid growing calls from car safety experts for vehicles to revert to more basic designs, driven by fears that some modern features could pose deadly risks. Among these are trendy pop-out door handles, recently banned in China over concerns they could trap passengers inside after a collision.
Touchscreen infotainment systems have also faced criticism, with mounting evidence suggesting they create dangerous distractions for drivers. Unlike physical switches or knobs, screens force motorists to divert their visual attention from the road, potentially leading to hazardous situations.
Professor Milad Haghani, a car safety expert at the University of Melbourne, explained to the Daily Mail, "They require visual attention and demand glance durations often longer than safe thresholds. That long glance duration can be deadly."
As automotive technology continues to advance at a breakneck pace, this study underscores a generational divide in familiarity with car features, while sparking conversations about the balance between innovation, usability, and safety in vehicle design.
