Why Are Cupholders So Important in Cars, Does Size Matter And How Many Is Enough?

These questions have been keeping Automologist LING up at night and she tries to figure out the answer. 

A friend in the auto industry remarked to me recently that “Asian car brands LOVE boasting about their cupholders.” This was just after I had come off a project to launch a new-generation top-selling car model and the Japanese automaker wanted to emphasise how their cupholders were really big. 

That’s not to say that automotive brands from other parts of the world do not think that cupholders are important. According to accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Americans surveyed felt that the number of cup holders were more important than fuel mileage (this was in 2007, though, before the price of fuel is what it is today).

This got me wondering why cupholders are so important in cars nowadays. Does size really matter? And how many is enough?

I’m old enough to remember a time when cars didn’t always come with in-built cupholders and we somehow managed to get by. The front seat passenger or our thigh gap was the stand-in cupholder. The only cupholder of any kind we would use while dining in the car was built into the trays of drive-in restaurants (I miss you, old A&W) which would hook over the car window sill.

While since the fifties, a few automakers did introduce cupholders in a some of their models and there were random patents filed, it perhaps wasn’t until 1992, when Stella Liebeck infamously sued McDonald’s after spilling scalding hot coffee on her lap, while seated inside her parked car, that things took a turn. While it may seem to many that Liebeck was an opportunist, she has never denied that spilling the coffee was her own fault. Rather, she took issue with the temperature of the beverage and just wanted McDs to cover her medical expenses. Regardless of whose side you are on, we can all agree that the incident could have been avoided with a cupholder.

Automakers soon began adding one or two cupholders into their new models. Then they added two more for the rear passengers. As the ashtray and cigarette lighter slowly disappeared from cars, more cupholders were added and integrated into car doors, dashboard, centre console, rear centre armrest and some really odd places…

Is this why SAAB no longer exists? 

The 2019 Subaru Ascent, while not known for its reliability, has 19 cupholders for a maximum capacity of eight people. The Volkswagen Atlas has 17 cupholders for five people, which works out to 3.4 cupholders per person. So, one for coffee, one for boba tea, one for water and the extra for the phone, spare change, receipts and whatnots. Perfect.

I have yet to meet a one-size-fits-all cupholder that I like. The automaker that I mentioned earlier was immensely pleased with their big cupholders that could accommodate 1.5-litre plastic bottles. But those are too big for venti- or even grande-size coffee cups, which would have to go into the smaller cupholders in the centre console. But the same cupholders do not accommodate flat-bottom water tumblers. This is perhaps another reason why we have to have so many cupholders of different sizes in one car.

Even if you do not drink while driving, the absence of cupholders from a car would devalue the car in your eyes. As one Washington Post writer wrote, “A car without a cup holder might as well be a car without an engine.” Do you agree? How important are cupholders in a car to you and how many is enough?