Despite what General Motors wants you to believe, people really want Apple CarPlay in their vehicles. A significant majority of new cars support the technology, but it wasn’t so common a few years back. People are keeping their vehicles for longer than ever, and Honda wants to help keep some older models relevant by offering a wireless Apple CarPlay retrofit for the Accord.
Autoblog learned about the upgrade at a media briefing that also covered new models being introduced. The company said that it would offer a retrofit for 2018 through 2022 Accord models, and Honda owners will be able to visit a web portal by the end of January where they can schedule the service at a dealer.
Honda started offering CarPlay in the Accord back in 2016, but wireless connectivity is a relatively new feature. Despite having older hardware, the car only needs a software update to enable the feature, though their lack of a mobile data connection means it has to be done by a Honda tech.
This isn’t the first time an automaker has made newer infotainment features available to older vehicles. Mazda made Apple CarPlay and Android Auto available back in 2018 for past model-year cars with compatible infotainment systems. Though that upgrade was just for wired connections, not wireless like the Honda upgrade.
There are tons of DIY CarPlay products available, including many with wireless functionality, but third-party tech products don’t always cut the mustard when it comes to refinement and usability. They can be clunky and hard to install and use. Additionally, changing the existing infotainment system is not always possible because of its tight integrations with climate controls and vehicle settings. You may also void your warranty by fiddling around behind the dash.
There’s no word on plans to offer the update for other Honda or Acura models, and we don’t yet know how much the service will cost. The aforementioned Mazda upgrade cost $199 when it was launched. That said, the opportunity to have a factory-backed wireless Apple CarPlay upgrade is likely worth the cost for many, since the not-so-great DIY head units and upgrades can be hundreds of dollars. And it’s hard to imagine a software update being that expensive.
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