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If the automakers don't care about reception quality, then why oppose this law? Bad reception in their cars will make their cars look bad, if only by a little,

If the automakers don't care about reception quality, then why oppose this law? Bad reception in their cars will make their cars look bad, if only by a little, which is why they care.

ultrarunner 3y ago
I'm here, on this website, reading about the ins and outs of AM reception and considering the effects of mandating the continued existence certain kind of modulation. I also bought a new car recently. In the Venn diagram of people, I'm probably right in all of the tiny overlaps (save for, maybe, concern about current baseball scores). I can't imagine choosing between two cars and picking one because of its AM radio reception. I wouldn't even make a bet that I know if my car can receive AM.
dagmx 3y ago
The overlap of people buying an EV and who listen to AM radio regularly enough to care is going to be minuscule. I’d even hazard that once EVs are mandated. Between the standard AM radio content and the availability of better options like streamed audio, I just don’t see people caring. Until and unless an emergency does happen, in which case, they’d have to actively know to tune in (unlikely) and have to not want to pull over to listen. They’d also have to be in a situation where the other emergency broadcast tools on their phones don’t work. I just don’t see it being anything that any number of consumers would care about, beyond the standard number of outliers that are usually accounted for.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  The car manufacturer lobbying evidences them caring.
  - dagmx 3y ago
    Do they care about the brand damage or the need to factor it into their product with hardware/software? I think the latter is significantly more likely.
    - lupusreal 3y ago
      If they don't care about reception quality then they don't need to factor anything in; the AM radio would be a trivial addition to the FM radios they already have. But they lobbyied against this because they do care, they'd rather have no AM radio than one that works poorly.
      - dagmx 3y ago
        The key word is “addition”. That’s extra hardware, software/buttons regardless of how trivial
        lupusreal 3y ago
        It's fuck-all hardware, FM and AM radios have been paired together since the 80s as an absolutely trivial expense; it probably costs them more to get FM hardware without the AM than to get both as a package. In fact their hardware is probably AM capable already, merely unexposed in the user interface. And buttons? Who is still making cars with real buttons for the radio?

If the automakers don't care about reception quality, then why oppose this law? Bad reception in their cars will make their cars look bad, if only by a little, which is why they care.

ultrarunner 3y ago

I'm here, on this website, reading about the ins and outs of AM reception and considering the effects of mandating the continued existence certain kind of modulation. I also bought a new car recently. In the Venn diagram of people, I'm probably right in all of the tiny overlaps (save for, maybe, concern about current baseball scores). I can't imagine choosing between two cars and picking one because of its AM radio reception. I wouldn't even make a bet that I know if my car can receive AM.

dagmx 3y ago

The overlap of people buying an EV and who listen to AM radio regularly enough to care is going to be minuscule. I’d even hazard that once EVs are mandated. Between the standard AM radio content and the availability of better options like streamed audio, I just don’t see people caring. Until and unless an emergency does happen, in which case, they’d have to actively know to tune in (unlikely) and have to not want to pull over to listen. They’d also have to be in a situation where the other emergency broadcast tools on their phones don’t work. I just don’t see it being anything that any number of consumers would care about, beyond the standard number of outliers that are usually accounted for.

lupusreal 3y ago
The car manufacturer lobbying evidences them caring.
- dagmx 3y ago
  Do they care about the brand damage or the need to factor it into their product with hardware/software? I think the latter is significantly more likely.
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    If they don't care about reception quality then they don't need to factor anything in; the AM radio would be a trivial addition to the FM radios they already have. But they lobbyied against this because they do care, they'd rather have no AM radio than one that works poorly.
    - dagmx 3y ago
      The key word is “addition”. That’s extra hardware, software/buttons regardless of how trivial
      - lupusreal 3y ago
        It's fuck-all hardware, FM and AM radios have been paired together since the 80s as an absolutely trivial expense; it probably costs them more to get FM hardware without the AM than to get both as a package. In fact their hardware is probably AM capable already, merely unexposed in the user interface. And buttons? Who is still making cars with real buttons for the radio?