What Happened To Car Ashtrays?
In the past cars came with multiple ashtrays, but you are lucky to get one ashtray in the new cars of today. Cars don’t even come with cigarette lighters anymore. Yes, society has turned against smoking, but what if you do smoke and need these items. The smoking accessory market has gone to the after market. If your car doesn’t come with an ashtray, you have to buy a portable one that fits in the cup holder or some other area of the car. If you want a lighter, you have to buy one at the dealer or an auto supply shop.
And another thought is that this can lead to more littering and potential roadside fires. Lets face it; much of the population is lazy with their refuse. If they don’t have a place to put it, they will throw it away wherever. Without an ashtray, smoking drivers will tend to fling their cigarette buts out the window. This will add more litter to the roadside and under the right circumstances, potentially start a fire. Though that is a worst-case scenario.
Car designers go with the market trends, and tailoring vehicles to smokers is no longer the social norm. Smokers have been made out to look like the enemy, especially here in California. So an unfair assessment, but it is what has been going on for some time now.