Modern Motoring

Northern Advocate, 15 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Modern Motoring

“A Proving Ground Of Public Opinion ”

A few years ago motor-car manufacturers built cars for the motorists of the world according to their own preconceived notions. To-day these manufacturers build cars with the advice and help of the motorists themselves. None of the staffs that are engaged in sounding out motor-car owners is more thorough or more alert than one American firm’s customer research group which each year invites more than 2,000,000 motorists, owners of all makes of cars, to share their practical experiences with the corporation’s engineers. The result has been aptly called a “proving ground of public opinion.”

The customer research staff gets many an impossible suggestion. For example, one individual not long ago wrote a lengthy letter, complete with diagrams, detailing his suggestion for a system of mirrors so arranged that the driver could tell at a glance whether all the tyres were properly inflated. !3ut far more frequent are the sensible ideas.

holstery, while an adequate consideration of safety extends beyond the question of safety glass, good brakes and solid body construction.

By studying the importance individual motorists give to these items, the engineers can properly adjust the factors that go into the well-built car. Nevertheless, designs must often look beyond their engineering handbooks. Why? Because many of the points brought out in surveys do not even appear in the mechanical specifications. One motorist justly declared: “The mental ease of the driver is the most desirable feature that can be built into any car.”

Back as far as 1931 one firm was hearing from owners about solid steel tops, inclosed tyres, independent springing, automatic choke, wider front seats, arm rests for drivers, improvements in ventilation. To-day all of these are commonplace. In other words, the customers were ahead of the engineers. Slight wonder that today the manufacturers give careful attention to what they term “the trend of public preferences.”

What, then, do the rnotor-car owners look for in the car of to,-day? What do they look for in the car of to-morrow? Dependability, operating economy, safety—stated in primary terms, these are the three most important features, according to the opinions expressed in answer to this -American firm’s in quiries. Various established features of design are also demanded by the motorists’ vote. For instance, 98 per cent, want synchro-mesh transmissions on their next car; 98.6 per cent, want automatic voltage control; 96.4 per cent, want all-steel tops; 95.2 per cent, a ventilating system; 97 per cent, an easily accessible luggage compartment in the rear. Other item;,' receiving a heavy vote; Easier riding, more leg room, heavy duty storage batteries, easy to get at, accurate dash instruments, fewer keys for the motorists, unobstructed floors. There is no clean-cut line separating many of the characteristics that motorists demand, according to the experts. Operating economy and dependability are closely related. Ease of control, which thousands of owners put close to the top, cannot well be divorced from safety.

Dependability, on the other hand, is not entirely a matter of,ruggedness of design. Economy, at the same time, involves many factors besides petrol and oil consumption. Comfort cannot be entirely described, the engineers say, in terms of leg room and up-

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