[90ft]

8 Climate control: innovative air vents
Clever heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) solutions come in various forms in the Premium Attitude vehicle. The key innovation is the adoption of airflow technology pioneered in the aircraft industry. Faurecia’s “smart air vent” system uses an onion-shaped body for optimal air swirl delivery – where the airflow follows the shape, known as the Coanda effect[7]. It also results in lower noise levels and is believed to be the first time such a technique has been used in an automotive interior. Faurecia went further by integrating the user controls for the two outer air vents directly around where the air comes out, rather than in the center of the instrument panel. It is neat, intuitive and very logical too. In the center of the instrument panel you do not see any additional air vents at all. The directional louvers remain – and can still be controlled from manual
switches – but they are completely covered up by a grille featuring an abstract design pattern echoed in the interior loudspeaker covers and also on the front exterior grille for continuity (the latter area is another specialty of Faurecia’s). This cover’s design may have an aesthetic touch but its placement has definite durability benefits. Air vents with exposed louvers tend to look and feel cheap – and can break – as they are often very flimsy compared to other interior components on premium cars. Covering them up thus makes functional sense. From an economical point of view, it is possible to standardize these non-visible parts, while offering greater differentiation to the automakers’ design and engineering teams. In yet another take on conventional automotive HVAC wisdom, “rear seat-housed air vent” units are integrated in the top of the seatbacks – where the chrome strip meets the thin wood panel – for the benefit of rear passengers.
Of these technologies, the “invisible” air vents and coanda effect HVAC systems are completely validated; only the eat-housed vents would need additional development time from a seat integration perspective.

9 Expect the unexpected: the “magic wave” instrument panel center screen aperture
This device delivers genuine user benefits by being able to visually shut off elements of the central display to enhance driver concentration, lower distraction and ultimately improve safety. Using similar electronics to the rear center armrest, a “magic skin” – with kinematics hidden under the same material covering the instrument panel giving it a more muscular than mechanical movement – slowly rises from the top of the central instrument panel. It then stretches up to meet the top of the dashboard, covering up the information screens not required at that moment. For instance, when driving in Sport mode, the driver may only want to concentrate on the central drivingrelated functions – such as the speedometer – so the magic wave covers up the other functions. But in City mode you might also want to know where the next good Italian restaurant is located via the GPS navigation system – so in this instance the cover would stay down and keep all screens visible. In Cruise mode, elevant information such as the titles of your MP3 tracks is displayed at the top of the screen.
Another plus to the technology – aside from the improved perceived quality its unusual movement brings – is a more robust information display. As the screens are fixed they don’t have vibration issues – a common problem with some current pop-up navigation screens for instance. Such “magic wave” technology could be built-into the next generation of vehicles.