Auto show wrap: Distractions? There are a few

IAN LAW FOR THE TORONTO STAR

A feature of auto design that plays an underrated role in safety is tail light design. This is an important communication system between drivers. These lights convey to your fellow motorists when you are stopping, turning, changing lanes or simply that you exist on that empty dark road ahead.

Ian Law

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

For a lot of people, the Canadian International AutoShow is the automotive apex of the year. I started attending back in the Seventies, when I was a teenager, and it was always a highlight of the year to see all the new cars and dream of owning my own one day.

I was in awe of the shiny new models and all the glitz. The show remained a big part of my life

until a few years ago. I simply lost interest for some reason. Was I burned out, or just bored with what the manufacturers were producing?

This year's Toronto auto show featured my childhood hero, Carroll Shelby, and a collection of his original Cobra race cars. That I had to see! In my childhood eyes, the Cobra was simply the best car ever.

I got to see my first Cobra at Mosport in the mid-Sixties. It was red and racing in the Players 200. I can still picture the driver rounding Corner 10 in his white shirt and open-face helmet. To see that very same Cobra on display at this year's auto show brought back a flood of fond memories. Since I would be at the show to see all those beautiful, beastly Cobras, I thought I might as well check out what's new from the manufacturers. I wanted to see what was being offered in the way of safety features or — more specifically — features that could pose a danger.

One feature the manufacturers are pushing that worries me is the "information centre," or LCD screen, that is accessible to the driver. The last thing drivers need is more distraction. These monitors are designed to inform the driver about travel directions, climate control status or — on some hybrids — how efficient the driver is.

All this information that they would like to flood the driver with is interesting, but certainly not important enough to distract motorists from the most important information: traffic and road conditions ahead!

I have been worried that with each coming model year, more and more manufacturers would be building in these information centres to distract more and more drivers. Luckily, that doesn't seem to be the case for now.

I checked out all the manufacturers this year to see how many now had "distraction centres" in their new models. I was pleased to see that Honda has dropped this feature in their new hybrid Insight model.

The previous Insight used a schematic of the power system to inform the driver how eco-friendly they were being with their right foot. Nice to know, but not worth taking your eyes off the road for. On the new Insight, Honda has a colour-coded background on its instrument panel. It changes colour to reflect how eco-friendly the driver is. That should be less distracting.

Another feature of auto design that plays an underrated role in safety is tail light design. This is an important communication system between drivers. These lights convey to your fellow motorists when you are stopping, turning, changing lanes or simply that you exist on that empty dark road ahead.

Each task these lights perform is important enough that they should be individual markers. Turn signals should be amber and separate from the tail or brake light. Brake lights should be bright and highly distinguishable from the other lights and function separately from the others. The advent of the LED has had the biggest impact on visibility for brake, turn and tail lights.

With this in mind, I decided to check out all the vehicle rear ends at the auto show. Some manufactures have designed these systems with safety in mind, making each light function separate and highly visible with the exception of GM.

For decades, GM has used a single bulb for multi-functions (tail light, brake and turn signals) whether for cost or styling reasons. I was disappointed to see the new GM products, including their upscale Cadillac and Corvette models, still taking this approach to taillights.

GM has to take a lesson in taillight design from Toyota, Volvo or some of the others who use separate lights for each function.

Safety should never take a back seat to styling or budget restraints.

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