One in four drivers who have adaptive cruise control have never once switched it on. That’s not a guess — Dick Lovett and Censuswide surveyed 1,350 UK drivers in 2026 and that’s what came back. Seven percent of those same owners said they wouldn’t even know how to use it if they wanted to.
It gets worse. JD Power ran a similar study in the US in 2015 and found at least 20 percent of new car owners hadn’t used 16 out of 33 built-in technology features in their first 90 days of owning the car. Features they paid for. Features the salesperson almost certainly mentioned at the handover. Never touched.
Car manufacturers keep adding technology every year. The list of unused car features keeps growing alongside it.
Automatic Parking — 35% of Owners Never Use It
JD Power found in 2015 that 35 percent of owners with automatic parking had never used it. It shows up at the top of the unused car features list in every study since.
The reason most drivers stop using it after the first try — it’s slower than parking yourself. You have to find a space big enough for the system to work, stop the car, press a button, wait for the car to scan the space, then follow on-screen instructions telling you when to brake and when to shift gears. Your hands stay near the wheel the whole time. The car handles the steering but you’re still sitting there managing the process. Most people decide after one attempt that just parking themselves is faster and simpler.
Head-Up Displays — One Third of Owners Never Use Them
A head-up display puts your speed, navigation arrows and other information onto the windscreen in your line of sight — so you’re reading the road and the data at the same time without looking down. JD Power found 33 percent of owners who had one never used it.
Getting it right takes setup time — the projection height needs adjusting for each driver’s eye level and seat position. In bright sunlight the projection can wash out. Drivers who have spent years glancing at a conventional instrument cluster find the habit hard to break. The head-up display can sit on every single drive without the driver ever consciously looking at it.
Built-In Navigation — Replaced by the Phone in Your Pocket
Built-in GPS navigation was a selling point for years. JD Power found 32 percent of owners with it said they never used it — and that was in 2015 before smartphone navigation became as dominant as it is now.
Google Maps and Apple Maps update in real time. They know about road closures from this morning. The built-in system in most cars updates once a year — if the owner bothers to do it — and some charge a subscription to keep the maps current. Google Maps on a phone updates continuously, knows about the accident that happened an hour ago and works on an interface most people already know how to use.
Built-in navigation is one of the most consistent unused car features across every study done on the subject.
Passenger Screens — 35 Percent Never Even Try Them
JD Power’s 2026 US Tech Experience Index study added a new one to the list. More than 35 percent of owners whose cars have a front passenger screen said they had never tried to use it. Just 6 percent said they use it every time they drive.
Passenger screens are appearing in premium vehicles — the Porsche Taycan has one, the Cadillac Optiq has a 33-inch display that runs across the full width of the dashboard. The idea is that the front passenger can control media, navigation or watch content independently of the driver. In practice most front passengers don’t want to operate a separate screen when they have a phone.
Adaptive Cruise Control — A Quarter of Owners Don’t Bother
The 2026 Dick Lovett/Censuswide study found 25.9 percent of owners with adaptive cruise control never use it. This is one of the more surprising unused car features given how genuinely useful it is on motorways — adaptive cruise maintains a set distance from the car ahead automatically, reducing fatigue on long journeys.
Drivers who have used standard cruise control for years often don’t bother learning the adaptive version. Some find the automatic braking intervention unsettling the first time it happens and switch off the feature permanently.
Gesture Controls — Technology Looking for a Problem
Gesture controls let drivers change volume, answer calls or control other functions by waving a hand rather than pressing a button. BMW introduced them on the 7 Series. JD Power’s 2024 research found gesture controls among the technologies that received low usefulness scores — owners didn’t see a clear benefit over just pressing a button.
Pressing a button takes one movement and zero concentration. Gesture controls require a specific hand movement, in the right zone, recognised correctly by the sensor. When it works it saves approximately zero time. When it doesn’t, the driver ends up pressing the button anyway.
Also Read: AM Radio in Cars Could Become Mandatory — US House Passes the Bill Unanimously
Why You’re Paying for Unused Car Features
The core reason is packaging. Automakers bundle technology into trim levels and option packages. To get heated seats, buyers often have to move up a trim that also includes three other features they never wanted. Those unused car features then sit in the car for the next five years doing nothing.
JD Power found that one of the main reasons owners didn’t want certain technologies in their next vehicle was that the feature came as part of a package they didn’t choose.
Dealers make it worse. JD Power found owners were more likely to never use technology when it wasn’t explained at delivery or wasn’t activated when the car was handed over. A feature that sits unknown in a menu somewhere is a feature that never gets used.
Car Features Drivers Actually Use Every Day
The 2026 Dick Lovett study asked 1,350 drivers which features they use regularly. Bluetooth came first — 58.3 percent said they couldn’t drive without it. Most use it to connect their phone for music and calls the second they get in. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto followed. Reversing cameras made the list. Parking sensors. Automatic emergency braking.
None of those features need a tutorial. You plug in, reverse, or brake — and they work. That’s the difference between technology drivers adopt and technology that sits unused for five years.
FAQ
What are the most common unused car features?
Automatic parking, head-up displays, built-in navigation, mobile hotspots and in-vehicle concierge services — those five show up in every study JD Power has done on unused car features.
Why do cars come with features nobody uses?
Automakers bundle technology into trim levels and option packages. To get heated seats, buyers often have to move up a trim that also includes three other features they never wanted. Those unused car features then sit in the car for the next five years doing nothing.
Does adaptive cruise control go unused?
Dick Lovett and Censuswide surveyed 1,350 UK drivers in 2026. One in four with adaptive cruise control had never switched it on. Seven percent couldn’t work it even if they wanted to.
Are passenger screens worth having?
JD Power’s 2026 US Tech Experience Index found 35 percent of owners with a passenger screen had never tried to use it. Just 6 percent use it every drive.
What car technology do drivers actually value?
Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, reversing cameras, parking sensors, automatic emergency braking. All consistently high usefulness scores. All of them solve an obvious problem without asking the driver to think about it.
Should I pay for a higher trim to get features I want?
Check which features are bundled together before committing. You may find the feature you want comes with several unused car features you’re paying for but will never touch.
