Your car’s infotainment system is hiding 5 features you didn’t know existed
Your car is no longer just a machine with an engine and four wheels; This is an advanced networked device. Many use the most basic functions, but car displays have become more advanced over the years.
We treat a fancy computer like a basic device, and the real power we paid for is locked away in digital menus we’re too intimidated to explore. It’s about unlocking the high-value potential of the car currently sitting in your driveway.
Hidden system reboot
Sometimes a reboot is necessary
If your screen ever freezes, lags, or Bluetooth won’t connect, you’re probably very frustrated and think you need to stop and restart your engine to fix the problem. However, you don’t need to complete a full power cycle to get your digital co-pilot working again. Most modern cars have a handy “hard restart” shortcut hidden in their design, especially for those annoying times.
Usually, holding down the volume button or power button for 10-15 seconds will restart the infotainment unit while you are still driving. This eliminates software issues without affecting the car’s mechanical operation or safety systems. Although the exact way to do this can sometimes differ depending on the manufacturer, the volume or power button trick is incredibly common.
Audi and Honda drivers can often just hold the power or volume button for about 10 seconds until the screens turn off and the system reboots. In other situations, car manufacturers may need you to press it a little longer or use a unique combination of buttons. It’s one of the best features in a car, but you should read your manual to find out how to restart your own car.
Valet Privacy
Don’t tell them what you were doing
You’ll find valet mode hidden in your car’s security or vehicle settings. Once you activate it with a PIN code, it locks your personal data, such as your home address in GPS and your contact list. In some performance vehicles, this goes even further by electronically limiting engine power and top speed so the valet can’t take your car for a joyride.
For example, activating valet mode in a Tesla Model 3 instantly limits the car’s top speed to 70 mph and significantly limits its maximum acceleration and power. It electronically locks the glove box and front trunk, hides your saved navigation locations at home and work, and disables voice commands.
In the Chevrolet Impala, entering a four-digit PIN into the Chevy MyLink system not only prohibits access to your navigation history and the car’s phone book, but it also slides the infotainment screen up, revealing a small electronically locked storage compartment, perfect for hiding your wallet, smartphone, or jewelry.
Luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz use similar safeguards, allowing you to turn off personal data from the infotainment system, lock the trunk, limit power, and receive a digital log detailing exactly where the vehicle is and how fast it has been traveling.
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Speed-sensitive volume control
Don’t reach for the volume button
Ismar Hrnjicevic / Practical Geek
It’s pretty annoying when wind and road noise drown out your music on the highway. Tucked away in your “Sound” or “Audio” settings, there is a feature often called SVC or Speed Volume. It uses your car’s speedometer to automatically raise the volume when you speed up and lower it when you slow down, keeping the sound consistent so you don’t have to fiddle with the dial.
In most cars, an interface is built directly into the radio system that communicates with the car’s control zone network. As you drive, the network receives real-time data from the speedometer and sends it to the audio control unit. When you hit the highway and the noise of the wind, engine and tire friction gets louder, the system intelligently adjusts the power to balance things out.
Although SCV is an automated feature, you can still customize it a bit. If you dive into your car’s audio settings, you’ll usually find ways to adjust the system’s sensitivity, offering levels such as low, medium, and high, or more granular increments depending on the manufacturer.
Rear view camera “hitch” or “wide” views
See more when you need it
When you shift into reverse, you usually see a standard rear view. However, if you tap the screen while the camera is active, many systems reveal hidden viewing modes. Wide View helps you see approaching cross traffic in a parking lot, but Hitch View is common in SUVs and trucks and points the camera directly at the bumper to help you perfectly align a trailer hitch.
Using a wider lens angle, often up to a 170 degree view, which acts as a panoramic window, capturing a much wider swath of the area behind your car and giving you an overall awareness of your surroundings. This expanded field of vision significantly reduces blind spots, making it incredibly useful when trying to back out of a difficult parking space or pull into a busy lane of traffic.
The hitch view or top-down view is very useful for towing and tight maneuvering. By tapping on the infotainment screen, you can view a close-up view of the receiver hitch, often complemented by a dynamic center line or hitch guide line that moves on the screen as you make steering adjustments.
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Customizing Phone Projection
Install your phone in your car
If you use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, you don’t have to settle for the standard app layout. You can usually switch between split-screen modes, choose whether the map or media should be closer to you, and even hide apps you never use (like podcasts or news) to make your interface less cluttered. You just need to do it through the phone’s projection app on your car’s screen.
For Android Auto users, if you go to the Customize Launcher option in the settings menu, either directly on your car’s head unit or through your connected phone, you can choose exactly which apps appear on your dashboard. Similar decluttering tricks also exist in native infotainment systems, like in Tesla vehicles, where you can hide unused apps via audio settings to make navigating the main touchscreen much quieter.
Apple CarPlay users have similar hidden features. You can rearrange or completely remove apps from your car’s screen by accessing the CarPlay settings directly through your iPhone’s general settings menu, ensuring that only the most relevant icons are displayed while driving.
Drive smarter, not harder
The biggest obstacle is usually overcoming the simple fear of exploring the menu. It may seem like you’re going to mess up the radio, but it’s the control center for sophisticated safety and convenience features. Don’t be the driver who settles for a slow, faulty screen or standard reverse view. Take a few minutes to explore your vehicle’s digital landscape. The difference between a boring daily commute and truly optimized, frustration-free driving is often found simply by flicking or flicking a toggle switch.
- Brand
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Apple
- SoC
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A18
- Display
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6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED display, HDR10, 1200 nits peak brightness, 60Hz
- RAM
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8 GB
