Transportation officials not on board with some automakers dropping AM radio in new EVs

The great debate regarding AM radio is firing up, as more automakers ditch the old school feature. Whereas some people grew up with AM radio, others have never even used it. Regardless, automakers have been phasing out AM radios in their cars for a while. 

“So, what I can definitely tell you is that the situation is evolving,” said Robert Galloway, president of Sam Galloway Ford. “It’s very, very fluid. There’s a handful of vehicles that have been recently announced that they won’t be carrying AM frequency any longer.”

Ford Motor Company is one of several manufacturers gearing up to ditch AM radio in some of its 2024 electric models due to poor signals and audio quality, as a result of interference from high-voltage components.

“For us, it would be our Mustang Mach-E and our F-150 Lightning, and the conversation was that the electric engines were causing an electromagnetic interference with the AM frequencies,” Galloway said.

BMW, Mazda, Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo are some of the other major companies saying goodbye to AM in their EVs.

“The phasing out of AM feels similar to the way 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, had all been phased out,” Galloway said. “I think a lot of it’s just due to consumer demand.”

But, there’s much more at stake, according to a handful of former and current U.S. leaders. In February, seven former FEMA members sent a letter to the Department of Transportation advocating for AM. They believe it’s a critical public safety tool used by federal, state, and local officials during natural disasters. 

“AM radio has been the backbone of emergency frequencies and emergency communications for a very long time in this country,” said Brock Long, former FEMA administrator (2017-2019). 

Long went on to say that a failure in communication can exacerbate or increase the complexity of disasters. He believes certain car companies began throwing out AM radio without understanding the ramifications of the Emergency Alert System that FEMA is in charge of operating.

“If you notice in Florida, particularly South Florida, a lot of the hurricane evacuation information is put forward through AM radio,” Long said. “And Kellie, the reason behind that is because AM radio operates at a much lower frequency, and it has the ability to push through solid structures, it has the ability to penetrate deep, far and wide.”

Automakers argue that drivers can still access AM on their smartphones, but Long said that won’t cut it in times of disaster. 

“You can stream AM radio on a cell phone if the communication towers are operational, but we’ve seen in large scale disasters, Puerto Rico, Maria, where all of the cell phone technology was down and out for days, if not months, in some places,” Long said. 

Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts also has spoken out about the changes. In December, he sent a letter to 20 car manufacturers requesting that they maintain AM radio in their vehicles. In addition, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington echoed the thoughts expressed by the former FEMA members in their letter to the Department of Transportation.

The car industry is modernizing at record speed, especially when it comes to the creation of EVs. A handful of automakers plan to follow-through with the phasing out of AM. But, a handful of other companies, such as Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, haven’t raced to make any changes. 

U.S. leaders advocating for AM believe the changes will become especially problematic as more and more people transition to electric vehicles. After all, the Biden Administration has been clear about its goal of making 50-percent of all new vehicles on the road electric by 2030. <!–[if lte IE 10]>