GM Designers Aim for Better Disabled Access

Associated Press, April 21, 2002

DETROIT -- A group of engineers and designers at General Motors Corp. are working to create versions of the automaker's sedans geared toward aging and impaired drivers and passengers.

Bill Lovejoy, the GM's group vice president of sales and marketing, said he realized how inaccessible a typical passenger sedan could be for a disabled person after his father-in-law suffered a stroke five years ago, leaving him partially paralyzed.

"Going in and out of the nursing homes and seeing people struggling with this, it wasn't something I had ever noticed before," Lovejoy, 61, said. Now he's championing GM's efforts to improve its sedans for the elderly and disabled.

Led by GM engineer Gary Talbot, the head of GM's 3-year-old Mobility Center, 10 engineers and designers have spent four months studying high-volume GM cars such as the Chevrolet Impala and Buick LeSabre, looking for ways to improve door and trunk openings, hinges and interior handles, knobs and switches.

Talbot, a wheelchair user since he was paralyzed in a car accident 22 years ago, said the study will make the automaker's cars more accessible to the nearly 54 million Americans with disabilities. The changes also could help GM attract more customers older than 50, a market forecast to grow to 116 million by 2020 from 76 million today, he said.

"That's a lot of customers. They have more disposable income, and they don't buy entry-level vehicles," Talbot said. "We're really trying to position it so people with disabilities will ride on their coattails."

Other automakers also are marketing toward the growing group. Ford Motor Co. showed off a version of a Focus ZX3 three-door hatchback retrofitted for the disabled at the New York Auto Show. The car features seats that swivel out and hand-operated driving controls.

Persuading profit-focused auto executives to invest in developing vehicles for the country's disabled population can be tough. For Detroit's automakers, the biggest profits come from pickups and sport-utility vehicles. But these vehicles are typically too expensive for most of the disabled, many of whom are on fixed incomes, Talbot said.

At the Mobility Center, Talbot and his team are focusing on inexpensive ways to meet the needs of the disabled, while making GM vehicles more attractive to the general population.

The team also is looking to better retrofit existing vehicles at a lower price. Customers often invest as much as $5,000 to install equipment that can lift a wheelchair, scooter or person into the vehicle. The customizing work also makes it tougher to resell the vehicle down the road.

Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

[ Back to News Main Page ]