Nissan Design Seeks to Appeal to Aging Japan

By Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press

February 24, 2009

Japan  

To understand what it's like for a 70-year-old person to get around, Nissan designers are donning an "aging suit," complete with a 1 kilogram (2 pound) vest, uneven shoes that make walking a precarious hobble and belts that strap knees so they can't bend.

Such painstaking efforts have produced bits of design innovations — door handles opening from either side, easy-on-the eye displays, extra knobs in car interiors to grab for support — that Nissan Motor Co. believes is critical for Japan as its population ages.

The designers say such changes can make a big difference in winning buyers in Japan, where a fifth of the population is 65 or older, and that proportion is expected to double in the next 30 years.

The prototypes and displays of such designs were shown to reporters Friday at Nissan's design center in Atsugi, southwest of Tokyo. The designs also fit today's hard times, as automakers try to cut costs, because the innovations are realtively cheap because they spring from ideas, according to Nissan.

"These design proposals don't require super new technology, and most of them don't cost that much," Etsuhiro Watanabe, associate chief designer, told The Associated Press. "They're designed to make using and seeing easier."

For years, automakers accepted the assumptions of what a door handle, cup holder or other interior styling should look like — the industry "benchmark."

But Nissan is breaking from tradition and starting from scratch to observe how people use cars to tackle what Watanabe calls "interaction design."

For example, the door handle in a Nissan minivan looks more like a metal ring so it can be opened easily by either hand. Cup-holders slide out, an arm's length away, at a comfortable angle.

Watanabe, who has donned the aging suit for his designs, has also driven around with special glasses that intentionally create blurry vision.

The result: Navigation equipment that displays routes in fatter and clearer red. The numbers on speedometers also use easier-to-read font, such as a 6 that's more clearly different from an 8.

"A car must be something that gives people the freedom of movement," said Naoki Yamamoto, another Nissan designer. "We hope customers will appreciate how useful these designs are."

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