The Great American Tradition of the Wrong Car Clock

With the clocks going back this weekend, drivers everywhere are mentally preparing to… do absolutely nothing about it.

Across the country, motorists are resigned to enduring dashboard clocks that are an hour off, reasoning that subtracting 60 minutes in their head is far less painful than wrestling with a car’s settings menu—or, heaven forbid, pushing a button. Sure, you can text, stream, and navigate across three states, but changing the clock? Might as well require a degree in quantum mechanics.

Experts say the cause is simple: no one cares. This lazy little tradition predates infotainment screens, with generations of drivers wearing their wrong-time displays like a seasonal badge of honor. In winter, you scrape the windshield, drive in the dark, and subtract an hour. That’s just how i