It's Probably Time to Start Worrying About the 4G LTE Shutdown Bricking Cars

A warning that the planned decommissioning of 4G LTE networks beginning around 2030 will strand a huge slice of the connected‑car fleet: there are roughly 500 million connected cars today and more than a billion are expected by 2035, and many of those rely on cellular links for diagnostics, tracking, remote services and infotainment. The 2022 3G shutdown is offered as a precedent that already killed connected features for millions of vehicles; slow 5G adoption and continued dependence on LTE create a similar, larger scale risk for cars now in production. An Omdia IoT analyst warns automakers face a worst‑case scenario if vehicles cannot attach to viable networks once LTE is turned down.

The technical problem is concrete: a 4G modem cannot be turned into a 5G radio by firmware, so hardware‑bound vehicles will simply be left behind unless action is taken. Practical responses suggested include immediate product planning by OEMs and a coordinated industry effort - perhaps a partitioned “network classic” environment - to keep 4G services alive for legacy cars. Without such measures, recent used vehicles could lose major functionality, become harder to use and resell, and push the market toward a bifurcated future of primitive off‑grid cars or continuously leased, always‑connected new models.