Why are carmakers not including AM radios in new cars anymore?

Question

Ford announced they will include AM radios in the 2024 model cars. What is disturbing is that the 2023 models just need a software upgrade to enable the AM radios in the 2023 models. This was not done to save the consumer any money. Perhaps it was done to silence conservative talk radio.

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

The primary reason for the desire for some automakers to wish to discontinue having the AM band is that, in electric cars, the electromagnetic radiation given off by the car will significantly adversely affect the reception and clarity of AM radio signals.

Per the Washington Post on 13 MAY 2023...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/13/am-radio-electric-cars/

End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars
Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla and other automakers are eliminating AM radio from some new vehicles, stirring protests against the loss of a medium that has shaped American life for a century

America’s love affair between the automobile and AM radio — a century-long romance that provided the soundtrack for lovers’ lanes, kept the lonely company with ballgames and chat shows, sparked family singalongs and defined road trips — is on the verge of collapse, a victim of galloping technological change and swiftly shifting consumer tastes.

The breakup is entirely one-sided, a move by major automakers to eliminate AM radios from new vehicles despite protests from station owners, listeners, first-responders and politicians from both major parties.

Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.

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However, some automakers including Ford are backtracking on this decision.

Both the Federal Government and broadcasters. In fact, there's a new bipartisan bill out, the "AM for Every Vehicle Act."

From the AP on 18 MAY 2023...

https://apnews.com/article/am-radio-cars-congress-bipartisan-bill-ac3aa22e5db8d2acdc2448fe620c28f4

Will dashboard AM radio be saved? Bipartisan bill would require automakers to keep it in new cars

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pushing to keep AM radio in the nation’s cars.

A bipartisan group in Congress has introduced the “AM for Every Vehicle Act.” The bill calls on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require automakers to keep AM radio in new cars at no additional cost.

The legislation would also require automakers selling cars manufactured before the proposed regulation takes effect to let buyers know if the vehicles don’t come with AM radios.

Supporters of preserving AM radio in cars cite public safety concerns. The sponsors of the bill put forth Wednesday note AM radio’s historic role in transmitting vital information during emergencies, such as communication during natural disasters, especially to people in rural areas.

“Carmakers shouldn’t tune out AM radio in new vehicles or put it behind a costly digital paywall,” Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. He added that the bill aims to “ensure that this resilient and popular communication tool does not become a relic of the past.”

The proposed legislation comes as more automakers are dropping broadcast AM radio from their newer models. According to Markey’s office, eight out of 20 major car companies — including Tesla, BMW and Ford — have removed it from their electric vehicles.

Carmarkers cite interference from electric motors that can cause static and noise on AM transmissions. Some have suggested that internet radio or other communication tools could replace AM radio. But Markey and others have pushed back — pointing to situations where drivers might not have internet access.

“The truth is that broadcast AM radio is irreplaceable,” Markey said in March.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a U. S. group that represents major automakers, criticized the proposed legislation, calling the AM radio mandate unnecessary.

The trade group pointed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Integrated Public Alerts and Warning System, which can distribute safety warnings across AM, FM, internet-based and satellite radios — as well as over cellular networks.

“This is simply a bill to prop up and give preference to a particular technology that’s now competing with other communications options and adapting to changing listenership,” the alliance said, while adding that automakers are committed to ensuring drivers have access to public alerts and safety warnings through IPAWS.

FEMA’s IPAWS Director Antwane Johnson, however, underlined the important role that AM radio plays in emergency response.

“AM radio has been tested over and over during the most devastating natural disasters — and has withstood them all,” Johnson said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday. “Additionally, broadcast radio is free and has the ability to reach millions of people from a single broadcast. Any plans to remove AM radio should be paired with a direct, suitable, proven and free alternative to receive critical information about potential threats to their safety.”

The proposed legislation would also direct the Government Accountability Office to study whether “an alternative communication system” could replicate and have the same impact that AM radio has for transmitting emergency information.

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Personally, while I do not listen to AM as much as I did when I was a kid, that is primarily for a few reasons:

1. The best thing I love about AM is that, at night, you can pull in signals from over 1000 miles away. For instance, it's great driving in Indiana and hearing the Baltimore Orioles home game home broadcast from Baltimore. But, now, I do have the highest Sirius XM plan so I do listen to baseball and other sports via that.

3. I live in a remote area so the AM stations that I want, such as KMOX, have quite a bit of static or are low-power.

4. Lots of AM radio now is some conservative idiot talking head, country music, or a preacher.

However, I still want AM even if I get an electric car. What I bold italicized corresponds to authorizing research to keep-but-improve AM so that the problems the auto industry is complaining about becomes moot OR creates a "new AM" broadcast technology altogether which would replace old AM.

lightbulb27 · Accepted Answer

may we need more "trans" AM stations, then it will get govt funding and be required.  no idea... it's all I listen to is AM or FM, at most.

sage2021 · Accepted Answer

Last night on Fox they said that starting with the 2024 models you will get AM radio again however, you may be charged a service charge for using it.

Didn't anyone else watch the segment on this? Ford was the one making the commercial, so maybe it's just for Ford cars.

From what I could make of it, the people pushed back because they still want athur AM radio and they won. Hurray for them !
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

DubiousIntentions · Accepted Answer

Same reason that VHS tapes went out, though people still have working players. They just don't sell VHS anymore. Today they have modern radios that look like they come from the 50's, but they have all the bells and whistles of today's radios.

razelove · Answer

I think you asked this before. The only advantage of AM is in the countryside, AM bounces off of clouds and some ground to cover far more area, though that is what doesn't allow for as much sound, and more signal noise than FM. AM stations can bleed into each other, as you can tune in an AM station from Costa Rica in New Orleans under the right weather conditions, or Chicago as well. The farthest I've had n FM station come in under any weather conditions was about 100 miles, so maybe one cloud bounce.

In isolated places, using HAM and encrypting it produces better results, or as @MrOracle said just use digital instead. If you're running an AM or HAM station in the middle of nowhere, you're already using satellite internet and TV. No one is going to run fiber optic or cable on your 20,000 acre lot in montana or wyoming adjacent to other lots the same size 100's of miles from a city.

You could even go completely crazy if you think it's censorship and buy an Iridium satellite phone and internet plan.(great for boats and warzones) The only possibility of censorship would be on the server end, as your ISP is in space, also global with no nationality to bind it.

MrOracle · Answer

AM radio has been on a long decline for decades, largely having been abandoned by music stations in the 1980s in favor of FM and relegated largely to news and talk radio. AM usage today is around 15% of what 80s numbers were.

Then there's the issue that cars are moving to EVs, and it's harder to isolate interference from the AM band when so much electrical stuff is going on. AM antennas are just a piece of plastic wrapped with wire, and it's always been difficult to get a good AM signal inside a car with the antenna located on the inside of the car (there's never been a good design for an external AM antenna). And technology has moved on - today, in most areas, you can stream whatever content you like, including news or talk radio, in much higher quality.

While it's hard to let old things go, manufacturers are really just responding to changing usage patterns and trying to save money, and not just on the radio itself, but all of the shielding and testing, which is less obvious to you but a constant and expensive bane for the manufacturers.

BeMuse · Answer

Because the oligarchs have lost control of the narrative. News media viewership is down over 50%. At Davos one of the WEF's major messages is that they had to fight back to reclaim credibility and to control the narrative. They are doing everything they can to narrow the stream of information available to people. They censored people on social media. They put up a digital wall just like China on search engines like Google. Don't believe me go search a controversial subject. You will likely get several hundred million results on the first page. But when you scroll through the results, you will only be fed maybe 400 or so that have been approved for the narrative by Google. They are trying to cut off AM radio. They increased their ownership in companies like FOX to push out people like Tucker Carlson. They hired tens of thousands of information shills to go out on social media to try to counter anything that challenges the narrative. They even have plants on this site within the moderator team. They are trying to capture social media influencers on the internet at the moment even though they already control many of them. The people do not trust them anymore, so they are doing what tyrants always do, panic and try to clamp down on free thought and free speech to regain control. This is exactly what they did in England before Americans rebelled against them.

jshm2 · Answer

Don't be daft. Most -if not all- car manufacturers are going towards electric cars. The drive train interferes with AM broadcast signals.

Also, it's not worth the cost of keeping old technology like AM radio running in newer cars.

If anything AM radio stations need to bite the bullet and upgrade to FM or DAB.

AviatorTom · Answer

There's a technical reason for this. Most future cars will be electric or hybrids, and their electric motors cause EMI that creates a lot of static in AM radios, effectively making them hard to listen to. Because the technology is different, FM is not affected.

The current plan is to only remove AM radios from EVs and Hybrids, though that's likely to be expanded to all vehicles to make manufacturing consistent and cost-effective..

Dargil · Answer

They interfere with the operation of EV's. OR EV's interfere with AM. Either way, geeks will come up with some sort of plug in device to solve that

Besides, EV makers can shield their workings from AM. But guessing the actual target is Talk Radio, almost all conservative and Big Corporations want to silence it. Elon will fix that for Tesla. The range of AM s why its still around.

supercutebutt · Answer

Silencing the liars is an awesome idea. If you don't like it, walk with a transistor radio pressed against your skull instead of driving :)

LiamJHayden · Answer

FM is far superior of a signal and now has News/traffic stations. AM often loses signal when one drives in a tunnel or through areas with larger buildings, so the manufacturers might view it as a dying technology.

Littlejugs99 · Answer

Really. Anyone using AM radio instead of digital is likely waiting for the grim reaper

Astarlessnightsky · Answer

AM loses its meaning in Europe and Asia, its only the US and Canada where AM plays a role.

Anonymous · Answer

Is there anything people can't turn into some political conspiracy theory? I don't think I've listened to AM radio in my life. I'm guessing it's so unpopular that barely anyone cared.

msc545 · Answer

They only things left on AM radio are poor signals, static, and right-wing religious fanatic crazies.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

Most likely because all car inmates are glued to their phones anyway?

Jocktober · Answer

Same reason they don't have CD players anymore? They are antiquated.

Sparkie460 · Answer

I have never listened to any station on the am dial.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

Is that true? Wow these car companies are getting worse and worse by the month.

Anonymous · Answer

Is there anything that isn't a conspiracy theory with right wingers?

Redstang88 · Answer

Didn’t know am still existed

Avgbrisbaneguy · Answer

Some countries are getting rid of AM

Why are carmakers not including AM radios in new cars anymore?

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