Popular and Trending Auto Accessories – 2025 Edition

Using data from both TheGigaBrain.com (a newer A.I. tool that analyzes Reddit posts and comments) and Amazon.com, we’ve put together both:

1. A list of both popular and trending automotive accessories by type
2. WHY these products are trending, which is far more important than the products themselves

Here’s the list.

UV Protection Products

Increased awareness about UV damage is making consumers more interested in window tints and reflective coatings, and increased customization/exact fit options have made old school products like dashboard sun-shades popular again. There’s also car tents/umbrellas, which most consumers are still learning about.

Takeaway: Many of the companies marketing interior cooling products (sun shades, car umbrellas/car tents, solar powered window venting fans) are promoting them as fuel saving devices. The pitch is that keeping the car cool is a good way to reduce the load on the A/C system, which in turn saves gas.

This is a good reminder that consumers are always open to products that provide fuel savings.

Tire Gadgets

Battery powered portable tire inflators and digital tire pressure gauges are popuar on Amazon, and we’re not sure why. They’re very affordable and kind of cool, so it seems like a “cool gadget” more than it is a trend. Products offering emergency inflation (like fix-a-flat kits) are also selling well.

Takaway: The marketing lesson here might be that consumers love the idea of being prepared for unlikely events (like a tire blowout), and they’re always interested in a cool toy. But this particular category seems less like a trend and more like a cheap form of tire protection.

Cleaning & Detailing Supplies

YouTube has made detailing and cleaning even more accessible to enthusiasts than it was a few years ago (and it seems like it’s been something everyone knew about for decades). In the ‘old days,’ you might go to your local parts store or Wal-Mart and load up on some cleaners in pretty bottles and call it good.

Today? Consumers are buying special-purpose microfiber towels, interior wipes, cleaning putty/gel, etc. And brands pitch all-in-one cleaners and ceramic infused products as the best on the market, with social media being used to drive interest. Even paint correction tools and techniques are gaining steam with regular consumers.

Takeaway: YouTube videos make it easier than ever for people to learn how to do things, and inflationary pressures are encouraging customers to DIY more than ever. Companies that sell consumable parts (eg brakes, shocks, replacement side mirrors) should be copying what the chemical companies are doing.

Air Fresheners

It might not seem significant, but air fresheners are very popular and we think we know why:

1. There’s a lot of people who are tuned into essential oils, health benefits, mood benefits, etc., and they’re bringing those interests into their vehicles.
2. There was a pandemic a few years ago that changed people’s perceptions about air quality (at least a little).
3. The average vehicle is getting older. Drivers are keeping cars for a decade plus, and trucks and SUVs for almost two decades. It’s not a stretch to imagine a 10 year old high miles car needing an air freshener.

Takeaway: The North American vehicle fleet is aging, partially due to the high cost of new vehicles, and partially because vehicles are built better than ever and lost a long time. Every automotive brand should be thinking about these older vehicles and how they impact product development planning and obsolescene…too many brands drop older vehicle fitments too soon.

Dash Cams

According to GigaBrain data, dashcams continue to gain traction thanks to their ability to record accidents and improve safety. The most frequent comments on Reddit related to dash cams are about buying them to “lower insurance costs” and “prevent fraud” that could increase premiums. Anecdotes abound, but we couldn’t find one auto insurance provider who offers a discount for dash cam owners.

Takeaway: It seems as if consumers are buying dash cams for percieved savings rather than actual savings. Which is to say, marketers can always drive sales by talking about savings from unlikely events (insert your own joke about volcano insurance here).

Vehicle Organization & Storage

This is another category that seems sort of insignificant – vehicle storage accessories have always been popular – but the note here is that SUVs and crossovers are steadily becomming a larger portion of the North American vehicle fleet. Storage accessories are growing in popularity because there are more big vehicles with big unstructured spaces on the road now than before.

Another aspect to vehicle organization and storage accessory sales is the overlanding trend…many consumers have fallen in love with the idea of turning their vehicle into a “mobile command center,” with everything they need to survive for days on end. While a trunk organizer for an SUV might not seem like an overlanding accessory, there’s an overlanding/camping/prepper aspect to these products.

Takeaway: SUVs and crossovers are steadily becomming a larger portion of the US vehicle fleet. Marketing to late model and older SUV and crossover owners is probably a good idea.

DIY Diagnostic Tools

Last but not least, the number of DIY OBDII diagnostic readers sitting in people’s tool boxes and kitchen drawers is massive (tens of millions of these things are floating around). The odds that a regular everyday consumer will pull their own “check engine” trouble codes are good.

In the reviews of these diagnostic tools, consumers talk about how much they enjoy the transparency into their vehicle, and how empowered they are to fix easy problems as a result. Of course, anyone with even a little bit of repair knowledge understands a trouble code is merely a starting point. Still, it’s a great trend for the parts industry.

Of course, the rise of cheap diagnostic tools is both a blessing and a curse: More DIY/DIFM buyers than ever, but also more returns, more complaints about parts “not working,” and more phone calls and emails to the support team.

Takeaway: All automotive parts brands – and a lot of accessories brands – should assume their customers know just enough about diagnostics to be dangerous. Adding troubleshooting guides to instructions manuals and websites is a must. It’s a little bit of work to create that content, but it will save your customer support team time, reduce returns, and improve product review ratings.

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