Congress Wants To Keep AM Radio In Cars, Automakers Not So Much

Automakers attempting to remove AM radio from vehicles has been an ongoing and bizarre battle. Companies want it gone due to claims that the bandwidth can interfere with the newer tech equipped to automobiles. It’s also free, placing it at odds with the industry mindset of making literally everything on modern vehicles a subscription. However, legislators are claiming AM radio is invaluable for emergency broadcasts and are whipping up fresh legislation requiring automobiles to tap into it.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been down this road. Automakers have attempted to court the FCC to give them preferential treatment in terms of radio bandwidth allocation for decades. This ramped up massively as connected vehicles began to manifest fifteen years ago. As the years rolled on, the industry saw little need to retain AM reception and claimed it ran the risk of interfering with modern vehicles — particularly all-electric models.

EVs were claimed to experience significant electromagnetic interference over their internal combustion counterparts. Shortly thereafter, some vehicles started being built without the ability to play AM radio broadcasts. This quickly became a political issue. Republicans initially became upset due to the fact that religious and conservative broadcasts tended to rely on AM frequencies while left-leaning radio tended to be focused on FM stations.

However, Democrats eventually came to back up their political rivals after realizing that emergency broadcast stations were likewise situated on AM radio frequencies. Two years ago, Congress pushed the bipartisan AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2023.

"Broadcast AM radio is an essential part of our emergency alert infrastructure, but the responses to my letter show that far too many automakers are ignoring the critical safety benefits of AM radio,” Democratic Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said at the time. “Although many automakers suggested that other communication tools — such as internet radio — could replace broadcast AM radio, in an emergency, drivers might not have access to the internet and could miss critical safety information.”

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) voiced their support of the bill.

While AM radio doesn’t offer the best fidelity, it’s much easier to transmit over long distances at a lower power level. That alone makes it an ideal choice for emergency broadcasts. It’s likewise not dependent upon an accompanying network. Broadcasters can set up a station relatively easily, independent from the surrounding infrastructure, and listeners can tap into the airwaves using simple equipment.

Senate leaders are making another attempt to maintain the bandwidth by way of the new “ AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025.” The legislation is again being promoted by Sen. Markey and would force the Department of Transportation (DOT) to “issue a rule requiring AM radio capabilities to be standard in all new passenger vehicles.”

It also would require automakers to issue clear and overt notices to would-be buyers on any vehicles (built during the interim period) that lacked the ability to access AM radio. Companies simultaneously would not be able to charge extra to add AM radio as an optional extra.

The counter argument is that Americans no longer need AM radio now that we live in the age of wi-fi. Many people receive emergency alerts via their phones and many have argued that is sufficient, if not better than relying on AM radio.

But cellular devices aren’t all encompassing and come with privacy concerns that not everyone wants to deal with. Unlike radio waves, cellular communication is always a two-way street. Furthermore, anyone who has ever gone out into the boonies knows that cellular coverage still has some major gaps. During numerous backpacking trips, your author has found that the only way to obtain weather notifications, emergency broadcasts, or even entertaining programming is by way of traditional radio. During those periods, your cellular phone is little more than a paperweight and the connected services on your vehicle become wholly useless.

Some have argued that it’s a matter of consumer demand. Assertions have been made that EV drivers don’t really care about AM radio, which seems plausible. The odds of an all-electric model being driven somewhere where broadcast radio would be their only link back to civilization is rare. Owners of such vehicles likewise wouldn’t care about the kind of programming normally found on AM stations. But does that mean automakers should simply stop implementing it?

“We do not have any specific figures or numbers regarding consumer demand for AM radio,” Robby DeGraff, Manager, Product and Consumer Insights at the "future-oriented" AutoPacific, was quoted as saying by The Drive. “That being said, I don’t believe if an EV especially (or any vehicle regardless of powertrain) is not equipped with AM radio that that is a deal-breaker for a consumer.”

“While I understand the draw some may have to AM radio, and perhaps its need in an emergency broadcast system, most of today’s vehicle shoppers and owners are streaming content through their phone, tuning into satellite radio, or toggling through FM stations.”

The argument that the high-voltage electrical systems and onboard electronics found in EVs generate sufficient electromagnetic interference to make AM radio troublesome isn’t entirely baseless. But dumping access to a bandwidth that might save your life in a worst-case, grid-down scenario also feels incredibly shortsighted. We also know that there are a few EV models on sale today that still offer AM radio, so it’s clearly not beyond the scope of what manufacturers can accomplish.

[Images: kryzhov/Shutterstock; Ensuper/Shutterstock]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter.