Remember that story of the woman who burnt herself with scolding hot McDonald's coffee and sued the company? While she was the butt end of jokes and received plenty of negative criticism, The New York Times' Retro News looks at the story and discovers there was actually more to the facts being told.
The point is, the world now caters to the coffee drinker. The idea of getting into a car without cup holders and lifting the lid off the cup in order to add milk and sugar and drink the coffee, as the facts of the case show Ms. Liebeck did that morning, seems strangely anachronistic.
Within the ensuing years, some genius invented a sculptured lid with a little sipping hole in the top, eliminating the need to open the cup and reducing the potential for spills. Sloshing grew less likely once the lip was raised above the cup rim.
Lets not forget the evolution of the cup holder. Teams of car engineers continuously work to perfect their design for drivers in the front and those passengers two rows back.
Coffee technology has definitely come a long way.