WHEELS FOR AGING BOOMERS.

Byline: Brian S. Akre Associated Press 

Most motorists take driving for granted. But what if arthritis someday prevents you from turning the ignition key? What if you can't reach the parking brake because of a knee injury?

Automakers are beginning to realize that making driving easier for people with physical limitations is increasingly good business as the U.S. population grows older.

Nearly every automaker has consulted with elderly and disabled people in the process of designing new vehicles.

General Motors Corp. has gone a step further. It has a formal team of disabled people working directly with designers and engineers to make its vehicles easier for everyone to operate - usually in ways that nondisabled customers never even notice.

Paul L. Ulrich, a 61-year-old GM engineer who survived childhood polio and uses a wheelchair, heads the automaker's Paragon Project team. He says aging baby boomers will insist on cars and trucks that take their diminished hearing, vision and physical abilities into consideration.

``By the year 2000, 30 percent of the people who buy vehicles in this country are going to be 50 or older,'' Ulrich says. ``A lot of them are going to be baby boomers, and baby boomers are not accustomed to being inconvenienced. They're not going to age well.''

Car buyers will get a chance to see the technology at the New York International Automobile Show, which opens to the public Saturday. Media previews begin today.

Ulrich says about 50 million Americans today have some disability that can affect their vehicle use, either as a driver or passenger. The biggest single group are those people with arthritis - an estimated 38 million Americans.

Ulrich said an arthritic team member helped GM design a new ignition switch as the group offered advice on a new generation of midsize sedans.

Testing several cars from GM and its competitors, the man with arthritis only succeeded in turning the ignition switch on the Lexus LS400, a luxury car made by Toyota.

GM engineers bought 10 LS400 switches and tore them apart. They measured how much effort was needed to turn the key, how the switch was positioned, the design of the key. Then they tried to design a better one.

They found that one reason the Lexus key was easier to use was because it was in the dash, rather than on the steering column. The key was double-sided, so no matter which way you inserted it, it would work.

GM says its new switch adopted those designs and takes even less effort to turn. It debuted on the 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix and eventually will be on all GM cars and trucks, Ulrich said.

The Paragon team also was instrumental in helping GM design its new generation of vans and mini-vans to accommodate modifications such as wheelchair lifts and ramps.

``It's a vehicle that's easier to modify, so it's going to provide savings to the consumer,'' Ulrich said.

Paragon, established four years ago, consists of GM employees and retirees, each representing a different group: people with arthritis, replacement knees or hips, hearing loss, vision problems, wheelchair users and the elderly.

As a vehicle is being designed and engineered, the team analyzes the plans and tries out prototypes. It looks at things younger, able-bodied engineers and designers might overlook: How much effort does the turn signal lever require? How legible are the gauges? Are the seat belts easy to buckle?

The team not only offers its advice and lobbies for changes in the give-and-take of vehicle design. It helps set GM's engineering standards as parts are developed, institutionalizing those ideas the company adopts.

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Photo: (Color) Evan Evans uses a retrofitted truck and works with GM designers.

Associated Press