"Ice blue" will be the default light setting for Ford line, "white" for Lincoln
At a event on "lightscaping" Ford Motor Comp. (F) discussed its transition to LED lighting and what is sees as the marriage of science and design when it comes to illuminating the interior of the automobile.
I. Ford Pushes LED Shift
Cabin lighting is almost as old as the automobile itself; by the 1940s many cars were already sporting dome lights [source]. Gradually glovebox and instrument cluster lighting became ubiquitous as well, satisfying the basic needs of car goers. But even as other components involved, lighting stood static, driven by failure-prone incandescent bulbs.
But that's beginning to change. Automakers have begun to push light-emitting diodes (LEDs) both for exterior lights (LED headlamps, tail lights, brake lights, etc.) and for interior lighting. Ford has been among the companies pushing hardest.
Ford introduced LED lighting in the 2003 model year Lincoln Navigator, an entry-level luxury SUV. Since then it's been slowly trickling the technology down to its mass market vehicles, including sedans.
The culminations of what Ford calls 8 years of efforts is found in the 2013 Ford Fusion, which is Ford's first mass-market vehicle to use only LEDs on its interior.
Already sitting pretty with hybrid-like mileage in its gas-only variant, the new Fusion will carry Ford's new default "Ice Blue" lighting color, which the company says first popped up in the 2011 Ford Explorer.
Ford technical leader for Design, Mahendra Dassanayake, states, "Lighting is evolving from basic needs to how to deliver enhanced experience, comfort, and convenience."
II. "Ice Blue" -- Ford's New Interior Color of Choice
Traditionally, despite Ford's logo being a shade of blue, Ford's interiors were lit with red incandescent bulbs, which whose light was sent through filters to present a green appearance. According to Ford and its academic partners, green was a color that was traditionally associated with relaxation.
But the new shade "ice blue" should help improve both driver attentiveness is psychologically associated with luxury, according to Ford. Ford says that research has shown different colors of light activate different parts of the human brain. While such statements might seem a bit nebulous and biased, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York in 2008 published quantitative research that showed that shining a blue light on drowsy drivers helps keep them awake (and alive).
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