The concept of technological uncertainty has been confined to business studies for quite some time, but the condition it describes is evident in contemporary society well beyond what news media call “technology firms”. This study suggests an enlarged conceptual and heuristic scope for technological uncertainty and presents a case study of the U.S. automobile marketplace that reveals how overlapping social, political, technological, and corporate choices beginning in the late 20th century have generated a more significant and broadly experienced form of technological uncertainty among automobile consumers and service providers. In conclusion it suggests the significance of technological uncertainty extends beyond the case at hand by interpreting it within the framework of Albert Borgmannn’s philosophy of the “device paradigm”.