And as for why it is on cars today -- even cars which come
*without* a cigarette lighter -- it is because it has been in cars for
long enough so people have found other uses for it -- whether it is well
designed for the purpose or not -- it gets *used* for those extra
purposes, and people complain if it is not present. :-)

Well sure, but the customer has no alternative. And a modern family will want to plug in many things. Navigator, portable DVD, phone charger... You start accumulating ciggie plug extensions and end up with wires and oversized connectors all over the place. I'm sure the industry is aware of the problem, but it's hard to revise a standard which has been there so long, not matter how bad it is. A revision would not only need cooperation between manufacturers of both cars and devices, but also woukd require rule changes by regulatory bodies in many countries. Fortunately, since I have a soldering iron, I don't need to wait another twenty years.

Are there really cars without cigarette lighters?