That’s The Way (Uh-huh, Uh-huh) I Like It – Part 3 of 3 Ford
October 28, 2008
Okay, now for the fun part. Well for me anyways! I get to tell you what I thought and what I learned that helped me to form my opinions about Ford and their new safety measures. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pull up this milk-crate, climb up and get started.
I learned a lot in just 1/2 a day spent at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center. I’m sure for the professional journalists, it was sort of an ‘old hat’ routine. Come in, listen to presentation, test new stuff, interview key people – then go write article. They do it all the time and it showed by how comfortable they all were with the process.
For me? It was kind of a wonderland. I felt like the little kid who got to stay up late. I got to see inside this company I’ve known about all my life. I got to go on the bus to the super-secret place and see neat new stuff and get in cars and drive on the test track! Tell me that doesn’t sound like fun and I’ll tell you that you’re either a jaded automotive reporter or you’re just not getting it.
The really cool part was that the same enthusiasm I have above? It was also showing in the folks who work for Ford and took part in putting on this Media day.
From Sue Cischke (VP of Sustainability, Environment & Safety Group) and Paul Mascarenas (VP of Engineering) on down to folks like Jeffrey Laya (Safety Method Engineering Supervisor) who made me drive really fast toward a balloon car and then wait an unbearably long 2 seconds until the Collision Warning system alerted me to swerve around it, and Prashanth Shankar (Product Design Engineer) who managed to keep his lunch down and smile on his face the whole time he rode with us as we “drifted” in an out of lanes on the high-speed track to engage the Lane Departure Warning, the people at Ford were honestly and genuinely excited about this technology. It made it easy to get excited right along with them.
Prior to this day, I really wasn’t aware that Ford Motor Company has more 5-Star Safety Ratings than any other automaker. Seriously – it has the most top-rated safety picks of *any* automaker. Did you know that? Because honestly – if Alex Trebec had asked me on Jeopardy for $500 “this automaker has the highest number of models that have received top safety ratings” I’m not sure I would’ve come up with “What is Ford?” So I probably would’ve lost just due to that question. (But now I’m ready for it, so bring it on Alex! Just as soon as I brush up on my Geography & Opera again…)
Okay, all that Jeopardy-dreaming aside, the MyKey™ feature got the folks in the Center most excited. When they described what it did, I instantly understood why.
Yes, I know there are some who will think that the MyKey™ is “over-parenting” or maybe even bordering on “helicopter parenting” – but I don’t agree. Here’s why… because both of those phrases refer to parents who are trying to protect their precious offspring from any sort of harm or trauma. In this case? There’s more to think about than just your kids. When you put an unexperienced teenage driver behind the wheel of a car – you are handing him/her the keys to a deadly weapon.
Set aside (if you can) the fact that Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young adults ages 16 to 20 and let’s focus on the fact that better than 50% of all U.S. car crash fatalities last year occurred when the vehicle was traveling 55mph or higher. 
Better than half. And those fatalities? Yeah, they weren’t all from the car with the driver at fault. Some of them were just ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. People and families just like you or me who were at the mercy of someone else in a multi-ton vehicle going really fast down the road.
Is it a good idea to limit the speed of a vehicle of an inexperienced driver? In my book, unequivocally yes. Then again, GeekDaddy and I have shared our “I don’t know how I walked away from those years alive” stories about youthful driving antics and stupid things we did behind the wheel of a car. So we acknowledge just how likely it is that Buttercup is going to grow up to take risks that could put not only her, but someone else’s child/spouse/parent on that fatalities list.
But we’re not going to tell her not to drive. It’s an important and useful skill. It’s hard to be vehicle-less in our society – and besides, we both love cars. So if Ford wants to help me make it safer for her to be out there? Well I’m thrilled. Yes, she’s a good 10 years away from that necessity… but it’s nice to know that other responsible parents will be out there making their kids safer too. Because I drive on the same roads as those inexperienced teen drivers and I’d like to come home alive too.
What it comes down to though is whether or not a parent will use it. There will always be parents who will and parents who won’t. We all parent in our own way and according to our own philosophies. But for those who will? Thanks Ford, for making it standard. Because safety shouldn’t come at a premium in my book when lives are on the line.
Still with me? Or am I getting too preachy up here on my soap box? Well, I’ll assume that some of you still are and cover the other safety features now.
Collision Warning with Brake Support – I totally could’ve used this to avert my last ‘accident’ a couple of years ago. The guy in the van in front of me kept stopping short for a couple of miles. I kept telling myself I ought to get out from behind him… But I wanted to stay in that lane for where I was going so I didn’t. We stopped at a red light. (I say we, because of course I had a very young Buttercup in the back seat strapped in her carseat at the time… shudder.) The light changed to green. The traffic (including the big white van in front of me) surged forward. I put my foot lightly on the gas, then glanced down. I swear it was a glance. But it was long enough for the guy in front of me to decide (once again) to slam on his brakes. Did he have a reason? No. Did the laws of physics care one whit about that? No.
If I had been driving a Ford equipped with Collision Warning with Brake Support, my glance would’ve turned into me stepping on my pre-primed brakes thanks to the light & sound alerts and swearing at Van-boy and hoping Buttercup didn’t pick up any of those words. Instead, we slammed into his very solid bumper going about 10-15mph. This resulted in some serious front-end work on my car and a ticket from a nice officer who gave me a break b/c he knew just what I was talking about with the short-stopping so he only cited me for ‘unsafe driving for the weather conditions.’ It could’ve been a lot worse. But it could’ve been avoided altogether if I’d been driving a Ford with this system. Definitely a thumbs up in my book.
Lane Departure Warning – this seems like it’s got a number of different potential markets. Elderly drivers in my neighborhood seem to have a penchant for drifting over into the next lane. But it’s not just the elderly who are often paying attention elsewhere or suffering from conditions that might make for lane-drifting. The first year of Buttercup’s life, GeekDaddy and I were suffering from a level of sleep deprivation previously unknown to either of us. To say that she was a poor sleeper would be akin to saying that War & Peace is ‘a bit long.’ We spent that first year (and part of the next) going through life as zombies. In particular, there were many days that driving to and from any place was more a matter of half-awake routine. Lane-drifting? I know we both did it. Would’ve been nice to have the warning!
But let me add a note here. When I say ‘drift’ I mean drift… as in ‘gently moving slowly from one lane into the next without really being aware of it.’ One of the gentlemen of the press – who shall remain utterly nameless out of respect – in my party of 3 with the esteemed aforementioned Mr. Prashanth Shankar driving around the high speed track to test out the alerts had a hard time with this concept. After an entire lap of him veering sharply from lane-to-lane and remaining unsuccessful in his attempts to set off the alert, I felt compelled to try and keep my breakfast down in the back seat by speaking up and telling him “drift! It’s drift! Not lunge! Think ‘talking to someone in the passenger seat and drifting over’ not ‘try to take out the pedestrian for 50 points!’”
Granted, I was a bit um, strident. But I was trying to keep my bagel & cantaloupe from redecorating the back seat. May I also mention that Stephanie Brinley of Auto Pacific has nerves of steel and a cast-iron stomach? She managed to look down and write her review of the systems from the back seat during all of this. That woman is amazing!
Anyhow, the point of this test wasn’t so much the camera-driven Lane Departure System as it was Ford asking for feedback on the types of alerts. In the end, we all agreed that it would be nice to have a series of options, the audio alert that came from the speaker side that was being drifted to, the seat vibration alert on the same leg, a combination of both, and the ability to turn it off. No one was particularly impressed with the steering column alerts. Mostly because they didn’t really serve to tell you which direction and partially because it felt more like something was wrong with the steering than an alert. In my case, the last alert would have been useless in Colorado in the winter – as it pretty much felt exactly like what driving down a snow-covered street feels like. But I liked the solution we all did. I’d even probably ante-up the extra money for it, given the chance.
Blind Spot Mirror – I didn’t get to test, so no opinion. It seems like it makes sense, but I’m aware there’s a number of aftermarket options like this… so unless it was standard, can’t see that I’d pay extra for it.
BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert – I loved this. But more for the parking lot functionality than anything else. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been parked between two huge Suburban Assault Vehicles and needed to back up out of a parking space “blind”. You slowly creep backwards, craning your neck, hoping that nothing is —-ZZZZZZZZZZOOOM!—- Suzy Suburbia in her haste to get to the nail salon goes whipping across, threatening to take out your bumper, your rear quarter panel, and any stray animals in the area. You jam your brakes on, the car lurches, you breathe a sigh of relief and start creeping out again.
With the Cross Traffic Alert? Long before Suzy gets even remotely close to you, a light goes on and an alert sounds, and you get an idea which side she’s trying to cut you off from. This would work just as well to keep Timmy the Paper Boy from trying to embed his bicycle in your wheelwell too. Or Buffy the neighbor-child from seeing if she can wedge her tricycle underneath your bumper.
The BLIS part? Where it tells you if someone is in your blindspot while driving? I’m torn. I think it’s really useful – but I’m sort of afraid that it would replace the tried and true “look over your shoulder first” method. It’s just sort of one more thing that can be helpful – if you’re the sort who would like the extra protection like I am.
I don’t know that I’d pay extra just for the blind-spot while driving alert, but bundeled with the ability to back up without having to worry about Suzy or Timmy or Buffy? Yeah, I’d probably go for it.
On the way back to the airport, I had a conversation with one of the writers from Wired’s GeekDad. We were discussing whether or not such technology makes people inherently lazier. Do we start trusting the technology rather than watching out for ourselves?
That’s a tough one.
I have friends who can’t get anywhere without their GPS navigators now… and no one seems to ever remember phone numbers because they’re stored in their phones. Do we come to rely on technology too much? Perhaps. But if the technology provides us with something that we clearly aren’t doing? Then I think it’s a good thing. So yeah. The odds are darn good that Buttercup’s first car will be a Ford if they keep pushing the safety technology envelope forward.
Thanks for letting me come play with the big guys for a day, Ford. But more? Thanks for making my world, and my family’s and friends’ world, safer all the time.
And just because I owe them a big shout out, Thank You to the following people at Ford for working so hard to make that day happen: Braine Bennie, Shuml Bhuva, Jim Buczkowksi, Sue Cischke, Sheryl Connelly, Jerry Engelman, Stephen Kozak, Jeffrey Laya, Michael Lopez, Paul Mascarenas, Thomas Miller, Matt Niesluchowski, Andy Sakisian, and Prashanth Shankar. But a huge thanks also to Zoe Siskos of Social Media Group and the best dressed man in Social Media, Scott Monty of Ford, for letting me have this opportunity.
Just The Facts, Ma’am – Part 2 of 3 Ford
October 28, 2008
Part Deux (haven’t you always wanted to have a reason to use that phrase? me too – I know it’s pretentious, but I love it so it’s staying in there!) at long last!!
Enough about me and my adventures – the reason Ford let me come out to Detroit with all of those amazing journalists was so that I could see, experience, and write about their new safety features and initiatives. Since it only took me, oh, 3 weeks to finish this? I’m going to be thorough, dang it!
Let’s start with MyKey™ – because honestly? If you have kids (especially those of driving age or thereabouts) this is going to be the dream function for you!
I’m going to go out on a pretty secure limb here and say that this will be an industry standard down the road… Ford’s just way ahead of the curve on it.
MyKey™ is a programmable “smart” key that will be standard (that’s right, I said *standard* not optional-will-cost-a-fortune-but-would-have-been-nice-to-have) on all Ford cars by 2010. They’re rolling it out with the 2009 Ford Focus first, because that’s the most popular car for teenagers in their lineup.
Through a series of simple, easy steps, using the “Administrative key” (read: magic key which controls the universe! Parents or wives only! heh) any of the smart keys can be programmed to be a MyKey™. The Administrative key can be used to change any of the settings at a future date if desired.
What the heck is a MyKey™? Well, it’s a key you can give to your teenager (or *cough* spouse) that makes driving just a little bit safer in today’s world of distractions like cell-phones, texting, loud-music and general, you know, driver-distracting mayhem.
Here’s a list of settings you can program with the MyKey™:
- If the driver’s seatbelt isn’t fastened? The alarm will continue to sound (no shutting it off) and better yet? The stereo/music system will not function until it is fastened. It will display a message to that effect to remind the ‘forgetful’ driver to buckle up for safety!
- Speaking of stereos… the MyKey™ allows you to set a maximum volume for the sound system (44% of maximum) when that key is being used. No worries that your teen won’t hear the firetruck behind him because his MP3s are blasting at ear-shattering levels!
- Which of course leads to another safety bonus – no disabling the traction control! Your teen won’t be spinning his tires or peeling out to look cool.
- And there won’t be any “I ran out of gas!” with this MyKey™ – the Gas Light goes on at 75 miles left rather than 50. That curfew at 10pm won’t be broken due to being low on gas!
- But I did save the best for last, of course. Speed. It’s what every parent worries about. Because we know that without years of experience, you just don’t have the reflexes at high speeds to react in time to avert danger. The Ford MyKey™ allows you to set a maximum speed on the vehicle – 45, 55, 65 or 80 mph. And the driver will be alerted as s/he approaches the maximum speed. So when you say “no driving on the highway” you’ll be able to back it up with “remember, the car won’t go past 45, so stay off the highway, kiddo!”
So you have all these features – but the best part? You can program up to 8 keys for the car. They cost the same as any smart key would, no extra. So there’s the “fully functional” parent car and the “safety enabled” teen driver car all in one – just by taking 2 minutes to program the MyKey™. Give your newly fledged teenage driver her own MyKey™ and you’ll be more likely to give her time to drive it, knowing that she’s not out trying to impress her friends while picking up her little brother & sister from school or driving to the mall.
Okay, so that’s the MyKey™ – the thing that’s had me all excited since they showed it to us. What else? Well leave it to Ford to keep bringing on the safety features. The same day we learned about MyKey™ – they introduced us to Collision Warning with Brake Support, Lane Departure Warning, the Blind Spot Mirror, and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert. Not just one major new safety feature, but *five* in one day! And they are rolling these all out by the 2010 models if I understood correctly.
In the interest of time and bandwidth, I’m going to hit these pretty fast. I’ll be giving you my thoughts on them in the next post – but if you really want more information on any of the features than I’m giving here? You can spend a ton of time drifting about the Ford.com website (I know I have!)
Collision Warning with Brake Support
This one is so simple yet brilliant. A last minute alert, a radar set behind the front fender uses a brilliant (and very fine tuned) algorithm to determine if you are approaching a vehicle that is slowing too fast or stopped and you are headed for a rear-end collision. At the last possible moment to avoid the collision reasonably, the system alerts you visually and audibly and also primes the brakes for use. (One note: priming the brakes is not the same as engaging them – sometimes, the best way to avoid a collision is to swerve around the other vehicle and accelerate. The car doesn’t choose for you, it just makes sure that if you choose to brake? The response is faster.)
Don’t worry – the algorithm is very good – it’s not going to keep going off in traffic. It really only goes off if you are about to hit the car in front of you. Having tried this in real-life on the test track? I can verify that it’s really a last-minute, you’re-going-to-hit-this-if-you-don’t-act-now alert.
Lane Departure Warning
This one essentially just lets you know if you are slowly drifting out of your lane. Cameras determine if you are drifting over the painted lines and alert you. While we were there, they were testing 4 different types of alerts. The first was an audio alert that came out of the speakers <i>on the side of the car that you were drifting toward</i> so if you are listing to the left? The beeping came from the passenger-side speakers. The second alert was a vibration that came up thru the driver’s seat on the leg side that the car is drifting toward. This alert only the driver feels. The third and fourth were both steering column alerts which are non-directional. One a vibration, the other a pulse.
But I’ll cover that more in part 3 – where I discuss the difference between ‘drift’ and ‘lunge.’
Blind Spot Mirror
This was mentioned – but I didn’t personally experience it. This is apparently an inset mirror that allows you to see a vehicle that has entered and is driving in your blind spot.
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BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert
Now this was interesting. The BLIS performed two functions – both of which use radar to increase your awareness of the blind spots and traffic that poses a hazard. In the first case, radars set in the rear bumpers detect cross traffic when backing up out of a parking spot. With more coverage than either reverse sensing systems or rear and side-view mirrors, this gives the driver nearly a 180 degree safety zone. Backing up, the radars will detect vehicles (or children on bikes or pedestrians) crossing the car’s path – especially at a 90 degree angle.
The second function identifies a vehicle driving behind you entering into your blind spot (as seen above) and alerts the driver using a light in the side-view mirror as well as a message. Again, the algorithm here is well tuned. Passing other cars won’t set off the alerts – only a car approaching your car’s blind spot from behind will do that. The intent is to let the driver be aware that there is a car that has crept into that spot.
Okay – so now you can kind of see why it took me so long to get this written up, huh? So many new safety features! Seriously, I kept saying wow. But I’m going to leave that for Part 3. Now that we’ve gotten the details? Next I’ll give you my own GeekMommyish reviews!
Thanks for your patience. I expect if you’re like me, you’re now impatient to find out when and how you can get some of these features! Well, that’s another thing I’ll refer you to Ford.com for! Next up – what it was like to experience these features and what I thought of them.
All images courtesy of Ford – http://media.ford.com – all Ford trademarks, images, and terms are used solely to refer to the products reviewed and remain the sole property of Ford.
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