8 Great Car Gadgets to Update Your Ride8 Great Car Gadgets to Update Your Ride

Black Friday is the unofficial kickoff of the year's shopping season, and Design News is here to help guide you with some gadget ideas to help drivers in your life keep their cars up-to-date. With a few of these gadgets, you won't need a whole new car for the modern car experience.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

November 23, 2021

8 Slides
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Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash

Black Friday is the unofficial kickoff of the year's shopping season, and Design News is here to help guide you with some gadget ideas to help drivers in your life keep their cars up-to-date.

Some of us may be feeling that our cars are getting a little old, but during this time of sky-high car prices due to pandemic-related shortages of the parts needed to build them it is better to hold on to them for a while longer.

Some of our favorite gadgets will give even old cars some of the latest in technology.

That means parents can more easily keep tabs on teen drivers, directionally impaired drivers can receive guidance, video cams can capture events, and there are a greater variety of entertainment options for any of us.

The purpose of most of our favorite gadgets is pretty obvious, but you'll have to click all the way through our slide show to find out what a "Car Thing" is.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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