- Some new cars lack AM radio, but a proposal likely to become law soon could require it.
A bill to require AM radio in every new car has passed the House of Representatives and appears likely to pass the Senate.
Car and Driver reports, “Automakers including BMW, Tesla, Mazda, and Volkswagen have quietly eliminated the AM radio option in their EVs [electric vehicles] in recent years.” The electric motors in EVs and hybrids can interfere with AM signals, leaving listeners with staticky, low-quality sound.
Other automakers have solved this problem by shielding wires to prevent interference or, in Ford’s case, by using digital streaming of AM channels to work around the issue.
Lawmakers worry that the demise of AM radio could lead to public safety problems. A bipartisan group of former leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wrote an open letter in 2023, noting the National Public Warning System used to communicate during large-scale disasters depends on AM radio to function.
The measure now heads to the U.S. Senate, where it has 60 cosponsors — enough to produce a filibuster-proof majority to pass it.
