By Henry J. Reske
General Motors products were once known as “the heartbeat of America,” but its longtime rival Ford is actually going to monitor that heartbeat. Ford Motor Co.’s research team in Aachen, Germany, has developed a car seat that can monitor a driver’s heart, USA Today reports.
The seat is equipped with six sensors that can monitor a driver’s heart by its electrical impulses. Should it come to market, the seat could be a boon to heart patients and even provide an early warning of a heart attack, the paper reported.
The smart seat is the latest in a series of innovations developed by Ford that include dashboard displays to keep track of such health matters as glucose levels for diabetics and pollen counts.
Pim van der Jagt, managing director of Ford’s European research center, told USA Today that “with the aging population and this interest in health and wellness, there could be an interest in this type of technology."
Health experts were not sure of the value of a seat that would monitor heart rates. MIT’s Bruce Mehler said, "There's a lot of potential here, but interpretation becomes an area of concern."
Gordon Tomaselli, chief of cardiology for Johns Hopkins, added, "Anybody who requires minute-by-minute monitoring probably shouldn't be driving."
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