

It could mean, however, that everyone will have an easier, safer and more agreeable time behind the wheel. Wearing the suits offers the designers a good indicator of what works and what needs to be changed in each design.īut that doesn’t mean every car rolling off the production line is soon going to be Gramp’s sedan. At Ford, that means engineers and designers don specially designed suits that mimic some of the physical limitations of older drivers like cataracts, arthritis or somewhat limited mobility (they also have similar suits they use when designing for pregnant drivers).
SUPER GRAMPS HOW TO
And in a recent Associated Press story, Fred Lupton, ergonomics supervisor at Ford Motor Company, noted that today’s aging population is driving “well into their 80s.” So for car manufacturers, like Ford and others, accommodating aging drivers is a matter of financial sense.īut to achieve the goal of making cars more drivable for older drivers, ergonomics has to be part of the picture, and to really understand how to design for an aging market, engineers have to know something about the limitations of the driver. car manufacturers have been quietly making over the years to keep up with an older population.

Notice anything a little more appealing about that hot little sports car, that shiny SUV or that big, comfortable sedan? Could be that auto manufacturers are designing all of them to work a little better with the population, particularly as the population ages.ĭoor handle shapes, larger font sizes on the dash and better lighting on the gauges are just a few of the modifications U.S.
