By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 1991, The Syracuse Newspapers
A few weeks ago I drove for three hours through thick fog and
wished Preston Tucker were still around.
Tucker, you may recall if you saw the Hollywood movie named after
him a few years back, was the automotive visionary who created
an unusual car after World War II. Bad management on his part
and bad press fed by the established auto companies killed off
the Tucker car shortly after it was introduced, and Preston Tucker
died a failure.
Tucker was one of the few real innovators in the American automobile
industry. He dared to do things differently.
One of his innovations was a third headlight, right in the center
of the car's nose, that swiveled with the front wheels. It lit
up the area you were headed for any time you were going around
a turn. It was especially great when you were driving through
rain or fog.
The Citroen car company of France adopted the same idea-using
the two regular swiveling headlights instead of a middle one.
It put them on its DS model two decades after Tucker's car showed
how to do it. But that's as far as the intelligent headlamp ever
got on production cars.
Stupidity killed it off. The governing bodies that set the requirements
for how safety items on cars can be designed in the United States
and Canada ruled out movable headlights a long time ago. And no
one has come forward, as Preston Tucker did more than 40 years
ago, to challenge the rules these days with the same kind of daring.
It's a shame. Automobile design is far behind consumer electronics
in its use of technology, and it is not going to catch up soon.
Except for anti-lock brakes and engine computers, we don't have
much to show for progress. Now and then we will see feeble efforts
to add a high-tech gadget or two to new cars. They will probably
be little more than frills, like the CD-ROM-based electronic position
sensors that are already sold in other countries. Folding road
maps still can't be beat when you want to sit down at Wendy's
with a cup of coffee and scout out your trip during a break.
What's really needed is something that makes driving safer without
forcing you to adopt any new habits.
One example is the variable-pulse brake light, invented many years
ago but rejected by the governing bodies (and apparently by the
automobile industry, too). It's a nifty idea: Instead of simply
turning on and off with your brake pedal, the variable-pulse light
blinks slowly when you are slowing down gently and blinks quickly
when you are stopping fast.
The faster you are stopping, in other words, the faster your brake
lights flash on and off.
The idea is so compelling—so intuitive, in fact, given the way
we react to rapidly flashing lights—that it seems illogical that
it would not be in use on all cars today. It probably would cost
only $5 to $10 extra.
A similar idea, just as cheap to implement, is a variable-pulse
turn signal. The sharper you are turning, the faster your left
or right blinkers are blinking. It makes sense.
A lot of other automotive inventions make sense, too. But what
we are likely to find in the new models instead are fancier
radios like the ones from Toyota, which can be adjusted for a
``jazz'' sound, a ``classical'' sound and an ``MOR'' sound.
That MOR is for ``middle of the road,'' referring to the kind
of rock-pop that offends no one. Automobile electronics are likely
to stay MOR, too, unless those of us who enjoy driving start complaining
more.
Or perhaps until another Preston Tucker comes along.
technofile:
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