From the wood-paneled station wagon of the 1950s to the equally ubiquitous minivan of the 1980s, car companies have long designed products with baby boomers’ life stages in mind. Now, with the oldest members of that generation eligible to collect Social Security, safety is fast emerging as a focal point for innovation.
To find out what new automotive manufacturer safety features we’re likely to see—both around the corner and down the road—we spoke with Joseph Coughlin and Bryan Reimer. They are, respectively, the director and associate director of the U.S. Department of Transportation-sponsored New England University Transportation Center and also at AgeLab, a think tank at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dedicated to improving older adults’ quality of life.
