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.

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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.

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