Just stop it with the piano black plastic car interior trim

I was really hoping this one wasn’t going to need writing, but there seems to be no end in sight for the scourge that is “piano black trim.” I’m talking about the glossy black trim that has somehow become a luxurious trim used to class up interiors that might otherwise be lacking in class.

Last week’s L.A. Auto Show reveals showcased plenty of it. Both the new Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4X are featuring piano black plastic in exactly the wrong places. Same goes for the new Kia Sportage, but these few examples are just a blip in what is a whole industry-wide obsession with glossy black.

This shiny trim looks good in fancy press photos of new car interiors, but it stops looking good soon after the photoshoot is finished. Anyone who owns a car with piano black trim already knows what happens to it over time. First, it gets coated in dust and particles — this only takes a day or two. Next, and this part takes a few months to a year, it gets terribly scratched up and generally looks horrible. It may just be the least durable interior trim material ever invented, and now it’s used on untold numbers of new cars.

Anecdotally speaking, the use of piano black trim has grown recently, and it continues to grow. In most cases, it’s replacing plastic that might otherwise have a flat black or gray finish. Those flat, non-flashy trim pieces hold up to years of abuse and don't get dirty anywhere near as easily as piano black does. That begs the question, why have automakers decided to flock to the new piano-black-everything style?

Perhaps, piano black interior trim is more effective at selling cars. We humans have a tendency to be drawn to shiny things like diamond rings and expensive watches. If one interior wows us with its sparkling flare where another is dull, it stands to reason that we could end up choosing the one that hit us with that initial “wow” factor.