First Posted: 3/27/2015
AUTO BRIEFS
Upcoming
car shows
• April 29 and every Wednesday through Sept. 30: Kool Car Cruise-In, 5:30 to 8 p.m., Happy Daz in Elida
• May 30 & 31: Westgate Charity Car Show Cruise-In at Lima Pigfest: Allen County Fairgrounds, Lima.
• June 13: Pork Rind Festival Car Show, Harrod
• June 19: Bluffton Festival of Wheels, 2 to 8 p.m., Main St., Bluffton.
• June 27: Spencerville Summerfest Car Show, 10 a.m. to noon registration, awards 3 p.m. Call Phil Briggs, 419-302-9895.
• June 28: Westgate Charity Car Show. Noon to 5 p.m., Westgate Parking Lot, 520 Cable Road, Lima
• July 11: 9th Annual Car Show & BBQ at County Line Church, noon to 3 pm. Call Rick Stoermer @ 567-242-8575 or www.countylinecob.com.
• Aug. 1: Wapakoneta VFW 8445 Car Show, 712 N. Dixie Hwy., Veterans helping veterans.
• Aug. 7: 10th Annual Pandora Car Show, 5 to 8 p.m., Main Street, Pandora. Call Steve Bishop, 419-890-6928.
‘Brains’ behind
interior design
DETROIT — Ford is adding data and the measurement of brain wave functions to its palette for improving the interior design of future vehicles from the Focus to the GT supercar.
The exterior of a vehicle is what attracts a buyer and is a top purchase consideration, said Raj Nair, head of global product development. But a bad impression of the interior is one of the top three reasons for not buying a vehicle, especially as the average commute is 25 minutes a day.
Designers like Ford Vice President Moray Callum have relied on gut instinct for decades but he is fully embracing a new project that measures brain responses and eye tracking when a person gets behind the wheel. The idea is to use analytics so designers and engineers can concentrate their energies on the features customers care most about.
The project has been underway about 18 months. Ford used a white model of the interior of a Ford Focus. Stripping an interior of materials and colors removes any distractions for a pure understanding of how consumers explore an interior: what captures the eye, holds their attention the longest or repulses them.
“We are doing the research up front before we even get to colors and materials,” Callum said. “It helps us make more informed decisions while still in development.”
Ford used to rely on clinics where subjects sat in a car and gave it a score.
Ford will continue to use customer clinics, but data factors in early in the design process to better direct efforts. If there is an area that a customer never touches, for example, it might not need soft materials. And the research shows cupholders still demand a lot of attention, Callum said.
Biometrics measure emotional response — Ford literally hooks up wires to a subject’s brain to measure what stimulates the brain.
