Vegas Voice 11-18

Third-Age Suit
By: BJ Killeen / Down the Road
While it may seem like the only people
companies care about are young people
with active lifestyles (because that’s who we see
on commercials) the truth is many automotive manufacturers do look
at the entire spectrum of customers - from infants to pregnant women
to seniors.
To help them design cars that meet the needs of everyone, Ford
engineers might wear an empathy belly. It’s a simulation suit that
mimics a woman’s abdomen when she is pregnant.
The suit reflects factors like changes in gravity and restrictions in
movement. The suit can be modified to change the weight or even chest
compression to mimic the shortness of breath felt in pregnancy. The
suit also helps engineers focus on the design of the seat bolster, ease of
step in, steering wheel angle, and even slope of the roof.
The Third-Age Suit does much the same for helping create vehicles
with seniors in mind.
The suit reduces mobility to help engineers find better and easier
way to accommodate limited range of motion for the neck, knees,
back and elbows. The pieces of the suit also are designed to simulate
limited sense of touch, hearing, and even sight caused by a variety of
inflictions, especially diabetes.
Wearing this suit, the engineers can check if the seatbelt is easy to
grab and lock into place, how much visibility is available from the
cabin glass if the driver
has trouble turning his
head, and even if the
cargo area is too low to
bend over comfortably
and lift items both out
and over without a lot of
stress on the back.
Ford isn’t the only
manufacturer to do this.
Almost all car makers are
concerned about how to
make their vehicles safer
for everyone on the road,
no matter what their age
or afflictions.
The easiest answer
may be autonomous
vehicles, so no one needs
to worry about their own driving abilities. But as with most things we
think about for the future, will it create more problems than it will
solve? Let’s wait and see.
BJ Killeen has been an automotive journalist for over 30 years.
She welcomes all questions and inquiries, and can be reached at
bjkdtr@gmail.com
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November 2018