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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 26 November 20<strong>18</strong>