UPDATE: Following the recent pushback from industry groups on Congress’ proposed mandate requiring AM radio in all new cars, Ford has officially reversed its decision to axe the platform from the 2024 Ford Mustang. Ford CEO Jim Farley made the announcement Tuesday on Twitter, noting that the decision was made after consulting with policy leaders. The announcement may further drive a wedge between Ford and the Zero Emission Transportation Association, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the Consumer Technology Association, and TechNet, who penned the letter to Congress to push back on the proposed mandate.
Farley’s announcement reads:
“After speaking with policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergency alert system, we’ve decided to include it on all 2024 Ford & LincolnMotorCo vehicles. For any owners of Ford EVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update.
Customers can currently listen to AM radio content in a variety of ways in our vehicles – including via streaming – and we will continue to innovate to deliver even better in-vehicle entertainment and emergency notification options in the future.
Thanks to our product development and manufacturing teams for their quick response to make this change for our customers.”
The following was originally published March 13, 2023:
It looks as though AM radio may be nearing the end of its impressively long lifespan, with the 2024 Ford Mustang being the next vehicle putting the radio format on the chopping block. AM radio might offer tons of nostalgia and some sports broadcasting, but other than that, manufacturers are starting to find that the resources spent including AM radio might be better used elsewhere.
Notably, the US government still uses AM to broadcast national emergency signals, though with the advent of streaming radio, internet radio, and the usage of FM, emergency broadcasts should still get to the ears of most drivers. Not everyone sees it the writing on the wall, however, as last year the commissioner of the FCC made a bid to preserve the AM radio spectrum.
In regard to axing AM radio from the upcoming Ford Mustang, For reached out to Ars Technica with the following statement:
“A majority of U.S. AM stations, as well as a number of countries and automakers globally, are modernizing radio by offering internet streaming through mobile apps, FM, digital and satellite radio options. Ford will continue to offer these alternatives for customers to hear their favorite AM radio music, news and podcasts as we remove amplitude modulation—the definition of AM in this case—from most new and updated models we bring to market.”
