Great link and a good resource for folks curious on this. I had posited that it was likely changes in the starter getting more efficient that has caused this t

Great link and a good resource for folks curious on this. I had posited that it was likely changes in the starter getting more efficient that has caused this to become more common. However, the article makes it clear that it is largely changes in how things are powered in the car. The specific point about the belt being used to power AC and such is likely the largest factor on why this is slowly going out. (And why it is more common in hybrids, since they had to be designed to power all systems without the belt.) Is a very interesting case study in what software folks would call "tech debt."