This May Be What The Gap In Between Your Car's Cup Holders Is Actually For

Automobiles are packed to the brim with features designed to make the driving experience more enjoyable, comfortable, and safer. Even if your ride lacks some of the cool options available on recent models, you can install plenty of new gadgets for your car's dashboard that outshine built-in tech. Funny thing is, it might not be the advanced systems that perplex driver's today, but the more basic features that have escaped attention. Take for instance, the easy way to tell which side your gas tank is on. Have you ever noticed the small arrow?

Another common interior feature has been making the social media rounds, with people wondering why there is a narrow space in between some cup holders. Tongue-in-cheek speculation ran wild among posters on Reddit – for example, user right415 suggests the space was designed for "a small dumbbell."

Fortunately, a consensus seemed to emerge and it couldn't be simpler. While officially unconfirmed, that extra space may exist to allow the handles of beverage containers like travel mugs to sit properly and level within the cup holders. Without this seemingly insignificant inclusion, drivers might be spilling coffee all over their consoles as they navigated to work in the morning.

Today, when thinking of common interior amenities, features like heated and cooled seats, ambient lighting, and large media touchscreens might come to mind. But that simple cup holder arrangement in your console or doors is actually one you'd definitely miss. The first mass-produced car in America (and it wasn't the Model T), launched in 1901. But it wouldn't be until more than five decades later that cup holders would begin to make it into car's during the 1950s. The design left little to be desired, consisting of a tray that awkwardly attached to the dashboard.

The big advancement in the world of automotive cup holders arrived with the minivan in the early 1980's. In fact, in terms of mass-produced models with built-in cup holders, the Voyager and Caravan started it all. Why? Because many consider that decade to be a golden era for fast food restaurants. While drive-throughs weren't a new phenomenon by the 1980s, they had gained significant popularity. This prompted automakers to add features like cup holders as drivers wanted them more than ever.

You'd think vehicle cup holders might be one feature impossible to screw up, but several examples unfortunately prove otherwise. For instance, on the BMW E9X 3-Series, the cup holders popped out of the dashboard like a compact disc tray, but were unfortunately directly in line with the passengers knees. 

The Saturn Sky put one set of cup holders adjacent to where the driver and passenger's elbows would rest. It consisted of a small flimsy tray that slid out between the front seats. This means, in order for the driver to reach a beverage in the tray, they would either need to contort their right arm uncomfortably, or reach across their body with the left. Not an ideal situation when also attempting to operate a motor vehicle.

If you drive something like an Infiniti QX80 SUV, hopefully you like cup holders, because you'll get a total of 13, taking the concept to the extreme. Ultimately though, with the plethora of cup holder accessories on the market today, perhaps there isn't one design that fits all. Regardless, whether the narrow strip between the cup holders is for mug handles or not, it'd be difficult to imagine getting along without those handy built-in spots for beverages.