Don't Knock It

Recently, the "Big Three" American car manufacturers have been riding a wave of good publicity.  Quality, customer satisfaction, and the all important metric of sales are seeing increases across the board.  However, the car game is pretty dynamic and Ford, GM, and Chrysler must stay current with fresh, innovative products.  GM and Ford have each developed a new feature that may very well prove to be a game changer in the near future.

Many of us know the sinking feeling of finding our brand new car, which was parked at the farthest end of the parking lot, with a door ding from some jack-hole that parked right next to us instead of the other hundred or so empty spaces.  Well if said jack-hole had the all new Ford Door Edge Protector, your brand new baby wouldn't have been besmirched by a foreign paint color.  Instead, the oblivious owner could have haphazardly opened his door without a care in the world, still tagged your car, and none would be the wiser.  While this all new product will sell millions of copies in the U.S. alone due to Ford's literature about saving millions of dollars in repair costs for paint and body work, it has to be said that this seems to be a superfluous piece of equipment that adds unnecessary weight and could be avoided by using some caution when opening a your door.  This may be a bit of preaching to the choir though.  Here's a video to see how it works.



Thankfully, GM seems to have their head on their shoulders a bit more securely, literally and figuratively.  In the case of a side impact, their new center mounted airbag system will prevent injury in two ways.  Not only will the occupants' upper torsos be protected from hyper extension but also from contacting each other with 10 pound bowling balls that are also known as heads.  This safety system is definitely a well thought out addition to the current airbags that only protect the occupants from contacting the car itself.