Why Your Car's Headliner Color Matters

The upholstery on your car's ceiling can have a surprising effect on the look and feel of the whole interior.

Bob Sorokanich | 

Dec 10, 2024 | 3 min read

Honda

You may not pay much attention to your car's headliner, which is the interior upholstery lining your vehicle's ceiling. Much like the ceiling in your home, however, the color and texture of your car's headliner can have surprising effects.

Automotive designers put a lot of thought into the finishing touches of a car's interior. According to one car designer, a vehicle's headliner can help create interior cohesion and potentially affect drivers' feelings when operating the vehicle.

Rolls-Royce

Headliners Help Create Cohesion

Adrian Clarke is a professional car designer and contributing design critic at automotive enthusiast site The Autopian. Every decision around a car's interior design, Clarke said, starts with a few basic questions.

"What is the brand, how much importance do they place on color and materials choices, and do they have a specific idea or theme in mind?" he said. From there, designers make decisions on colors, textures, and more. Ultimately, their goal is to make sure the car's headliner works with the rest of the interior to create a cohesive interior appearance. There should be nothing jarring or out of place about a headliner's color or material within the larger context of the interior.

Honda

Color Plays a Role in Feelings

According to Clarke, the color scheme of a car's interior plays a major role in the feeling you get from the driver's seat.

"Lighter interiors feel more open and calming, whereas darker tones tend to feel warmer and more secure," he said.

Within an automaker's design department, interior upholstery decisions are handled by specialists in color, materials, and finish (CMF), Clarke said.

"Depending on what the brand is and what they are trying to achieve, the CMF team decides on what is appropriate," Clarke said. "For instance, something like a base Honda Civic might have a brighter headliner because it feels open and airy, whereas to convey a feeling of sportiness, on the Civic Type R these will be black, because it feels more aggressive."

Automakers aren't limited to black and white — headliner hues can also include dark tan and light brown, among others.

Rolls-Royce

Luxury Brands Raise the Roof

For luxury automakers, headliner color is just the beginning.

"Luxury brands are all about personalization and customization," Clarke said. "A company like Land Rover will offer a choice of more premium materials and different colors so customers can tailor the interior to their exact requirements."

In the world of exotic cars, things can go even further. Clarke pointed to the Rolls-Royce starlight headliner as an example, which is an optional feature with 800 to 1,600 embedded fiber-optic lighting elements. When powered up, these tiny lights create a star pattern above the heads of the driver and passengers.

Customers can order a specific constellation for their car's ceiling, even going so far as to request a simulation of the night sky on a certain date in a certain place.

"In short, the higher upmarket the brand is, the more opportunities there are for offering something different," Clarke said. "Mainstream brands don't have the margin to offer different options, while premium and luxury brands have more scope for customers to personalize the interior to their tastes."

Bob Sorokanich

Bob Sorokanich is a car-obsessed journalist and editor who manages to maintain an old Mini Cooper and a love affair with automobiles while living in New York City. When he's not thinking about cars, he's riding his motorcycle, and when he's not riding his motorcycle, he's anticipating his next joy ride.