- More and more new cars are coming equipped with passenger screens.
- A new study shows that more than a third of owners have never actually used them.
- It turns out that while flashy features might help to sell cars, drivers just want under-the-radar tech that actually works.
Automakers have spent the better part of a decade turning the dashboard into something that rivals the television aisle at your local Costco. Tablet-sized infotainment screen! Actually, make it bigger. Not enough? Passenger screen! Might as well digitize the climate control, too. Still need more? Might as well just unify everything across the entire dash.
All of those screens are starting to feel a bit redundant—especially the passenger screen. In fact, according to a recent study by JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Tech Experience Index study, a third of drivers who have a car equipped with a passenger screen have never even used it.
Yes, never. Not occasionally, not one time on a road trip. Never. In fact, only 6% of the JD Power’s 68,084 owners surveyed who own a car with a passenger screen report that it gets used every time they drive it. We’ve seen Tesla remove hardware for similar reasons, yet these flashy screens still remain.
Oddly enough, infotainment systems with passenger screens also generate the most user complaints—21.3 problems per 100 vehicles. The results from JD Power show that these screens generated a high number of reported infotainment-related problems in its separate 2026 Initial Quality Study.
One other interesting point that the study calls out is that the boring, low-key tech—smart ignition, climate control, and driver preferences, to name a few—resulted in higher overall satisfaction ratings among drivers while also producing the fewest problems.
Even adding complexity to driver-assistance features moved the needle in the wrong direction for owners. For example, Level 2+ hands-free driver assistance generated lower overall experience and execution scores versus hands-on Level 2 systems. This might just speak to how comfortable drivers are with in-car tech, or it could reflect the real teething issues that come with adding complexity to the cars we use every day.
As for the screens, that’s not to say they’re completely useless. Having the ability for a passenger to control their own HVAC controls or watch a movie while on a long road trip can be valuable.
While they might not get used, display tech is a relatively cheap and easy way to dress up an otherwise bland dashboard and also make a car appear to be more tech-forward. But the message (or rather lack thereof) from owners is that screens don’t make the car—consistent, predictable tech does.
