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ZDNET Highlights
- Your car’s USB ports can do more than just charge your phone.
- Use your USB port to play music or update your car’s system.
- Even with wireless technology, USB ports still have their place.
Approximately 3.3 million cars sold in 2005 included at least one USB port. Twenty years later, more than 200 million cars have embedded connectivity outlets (USB-A), and these days, a significant portion of them have USB-C ports. Some vehicles have up to nine ports. Even many newer model motorcycles have USB outlets.
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Typically located on the front or rear console (and sometimes inside the glove compartment), USB ports provide much more than a way to charge devices. They enable music playback, phone connectivity, access to navigation systems and more. I’ve put together some common – and perhaps not so common – ways you can use the port in your car, along with some helpful notes.
First of all, it is important to know that some USB ports are designed for charging while others may only support data transfer. Most will provide a modest output of 0.5 to 1 amp – barely enough to charge your phone if you’re also using it for GPS or listening to an audiobook.
The most common use of an automotive USB port is to charge our smartphones while traveling. But if you’re going to charge a device, use power from your vehicle’s 12-volt port (formerly known as the cigarette lighter socket). Most 12-volt ports are rated at 10 amps, providing a way to deliver a good amount of power to multiple devices at once.
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Have to choose a cheaper solution car chargerEven high-quality chargers are often less than $15. With a pair of both USB-A and USB-C ports, you can charge a tablet, wireless earbuds, digital camera, portable air purifier, or even a laptop while you drive—all funneled from a single source. And through that source, you can be assured that your devices are charging at the optimal speed because the amperage from the “cigarette socket” is lower than your other USB hubs.
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Most new vehicles now support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, enabling phone interaction through the infotainment system to make calls, view maps, and interact with a voice assistant. Whether you use “Hey Siri” or “Hey Google” prompts to get directions from your phone (“Take me here…”) or message a friend (“Send an SMS…”), these smart systems are generally reliable for answering non-generative AI questions.
What does this have to do with USB ports? Remember, even if a port’s primary purpose is a data connection, it can also be used to charge portable devices (even if the power stream is weak). Despite Android Auto and Apple CarPlay working wirelessly via Bluetooth, hardwiring your phone to your car’s smartphone integration system is a way to power your phone as well as take advantage of its “smartness.”
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There are other benefits to using the USB port to connect your vehicle’s mobile device projection system. That is, it provides a more stable connection, higher audio fidelity, and less potential for interference.
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What is firmware? Think of it as a kind of bridge between hardware and software configurations within smart electronics. All modern devices require manufacturer firmware updates to run smoothly. Your vehicle’s multimedia unit is no exception.
While some newer vehicles (especially EVs) have over-the-air updates available, many still require a USB drive for installation. Typically, this involves downloading the firmware file from the vehicle manufacturer’s website to a USB drive and inserting it into the vehicle’s data transfer port to initiate the update. From there, follow the prompts on your unit head display, usually starting with the “System Update” option.
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The exact steps to install these updates via USB will vary depending on the make and model of your car. Additionally, you need to format the USB drive into a file system compatible with the vehicle. Depending on the manufacturer of your car, this may be exFAT or FAT32. Fortunately, most store-bought USB flash drives come pre-formatted with the ability to read these files.
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The second most common use of an automotive USB port is for listening to music.
I love music as much as I love all technological wireless. Yet I still have a tiny SanDisk MP3 player loaded with thousands of songs in my 2025 Civic. It hangs from a six-inch cable attached to my car’s only USB-C port, which coincidentally is that car’s only data port. This way I can listen to my carefully crafted songs, but it’s a hassle that I have to use that port either for an MP3 player or to interface with my phone, not both.
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However, your vehicle may have a USB port that transfers data and allows you to play music directly from a USB stick or flash drive. That drive must be formatted in a file system that your car supports, such as FAT32 or NTFS. And you need to make sure that the files are stored in popular audio formats like MP3, AAC and OGG. Some car head units require you to manually navigate to the music file location on the USB drive. Others automatically detect music files and play them immediately. In the latter case, it would be best for you to play all the songs in your library on random mode.
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It might be considered gaudy, but no passenger in my car ever complained about the multicolored twinkling of the LED strip lights I installed all over the console, dash, and floorboard. I think it adds a touch of atmosphere and modernity, if not entertainment.
Those LED strip lights are powered via USB via an adapter plugged into my car’s 12-volt port. The only drawback is that these straps come with wires. Loose wiring really reduces the overall aesthetics, at least in daylight, so you have to install them judiciously and cleverly to hide the wires if possible.
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If some ambitious company could make affordable LED tape lights that somehow illuminate wirelessly, I would be their first customer.
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Will cars soon get rid of USB-A ports?
My brother-in-law’s 2021 Honda Accord Touring has a luxury feature that most cars don’t have: a wireless charging pad under the dashboard in the center console where you can toss your phone. (No magnetic mount, and no risky messing with cables and plugging in.) More amazingly, that pad doubles as a Bluetooth connection point with the car’s infotainment system, so it transfers data, too.
With that technology appearing in a four-year-old car, it’s easy to predict that Qi wireless charging will become an industry standard in midrange vehicles. (By the way, the term “Qi” derives from a Chinese word meaning “energy flow,” and describes how electromagnetic induction transfers power from a charging pad to a compatible device without physical cables.) Similarly, we will see increased wireless data transfer within vehicles, including vehicle-to-everything (V2X) to improve communications and over-the-air (OTA) for various vehicle systems. Has the ability to increase updates.
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Although automotive wireless technology is becoming more prevalent, it is unlikely to completely replace USB ports in vehicles. Older USB ports, such as USB-A, will eventually become obsolete in favor of USB-C with PD (Power Delivery), and a standardized solution for high-speed data transfer may be on the horizon. However, for now, the USB ports in your car still offer benefits in charging speed, data transfer capabilities, and universal device compatibility.
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