Designing for Women

by Ed Newman
AMSOIL Marketing & Advertising Manager
This article appeared in National Oil & Lube News, June 2004

Sooner or later everyone comes to a point in their lives where they realize an obvious truth: men and women are different.

There has been a lot of money made by people who have capitalized on this observation. The popularity of John Gray's "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" is due to its self-evident truth, not its controversy. Dr. Gray's intention is to help men and women build better relationships.

Others, like the Ford Motor Company, built a passenger car success story around this recognition. Women like cars for reasons that differ from the reasons men like cars. Sure, there may be a few women who raced around pedal-to-the-metal in a Road Runner, Hemi 'Cuda or four-barrel Camaro SS396, but for the most part these are not cars my mom muscled around in.

In the early nineties, Ford introduced a car specifically designed for women. For those who may have forgotten the story, they did something quite interesting. Their interior design team had the task of making the car not only comfortable, but easy to operate without breaking a nail. In fact, the designers all tested the knobs, buttons, switches and handles while wearing one inch nails. People laugh when they picture it. The designers were probably laughing, too, but with the success of the Taurus Ford laughed all the way to the bank.

Today, Volvo has one-upped the Ford story. Volvo's new concept car, introduced at the Geneva Motor Show this winter, was actually designed by women, not just men wearing women's nails. All decisions were made by women. The female think tank literally went outside the box to produce a low maintenance car that is practical, stylish and comfortable. The car even has a split in the headrest for women who wear a ponytail.

Marti Barletta, an expert on U.S. consumer demand, was involved at the initiation of the project. "If you exceed the expectations of women you exceed the expectations of men," said Barletta. Even if the car never sees production, many of the ideas here will likely be recognized and assimilated into future designs.

WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?
Of the Volvo concept car¹s many innovations, the 120 female design team identified six main desires of female driver. They were, in no particular order of importance, ease of parking, comfortable seats, visibility, ample storage space, easy maintenance and the ability to personalize the car. Sounds a lot like the kind of car my wife is always looking for.

One potentially controversial facet of the car was its 30,000 mile oil drain interval. Naturally this is a desire that makes sense. There are probably many people who wouldn¹t mind never having to do any maintenance ever. Some of these are probably the same people who buy condos with no yards, somewhere down south where there is no snow to shovel.

The reality is, well, from a physics standpoint there are facts which must be reckoned with. One of these facts is the second law of thermodynamics. Things fall apart. Hence we have junk yards. And while minimizing maintenance can be desirable from a consumer standpoint, their are certainly some limits in this matter.

NO IDEA IS AN ISLAND
Another factor to reckon with is that certain design trends are inherently contradictory. This is the problem we face as we look at the increasingly restrictive constraints of emissions legislation. The following paragraphs should help quick lube operators breathe a sigh of relief.

The 100,000 mile oil change or "fill for life" no maintenance engine is not something we'll see any time soon. Why? Because of the technological barriers to such performance extremes as well as the environmental pressure to reduce, if not eliminate, emissions altogether. The desire for convenience must concede to the challenges of reality and economics.

In the past decade we've all been reading and hearing of the various ways engine manufacturers are re-tooling to meet the environmental challenge. Attempts at reducing emissions to keep our air and waterways clean vary by market.

In the two cycle market they are going to direct fuel injection (DFI) and electronic fuel injection (EFI) to address emissions. In the diesel market we are seeing exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) and particulate traps. By-products of re-circulating the exhaust include more soot, hotter engines, and more corrosion due to acids. Because EGR puts all these demands on motor oil it reduces oil life which is why with the new diesel engines increased oil performance capabilities are required.

In the passenger car automotive market they are continually refining the internal combustion engine. One of the biggest challenges facing the oil industry with regard to the passenger car market is the reduction of additive content in order to increase catalyst life. There are trade-offs, however. First, there is the problem of increased wear. Second, and a major issue of concern for oil change operators, is the matter of backward compatibility.

SYNTHETIC SOLUTIONS
The reality is that all the major oil companies are all busy addressing the oil quality issue. Hydrocracked hydrocarbons and advanced additive technologies have helped, but the quiet champion here is synthetic motor oil.

Synthetics address nearly all of the problems brought on by the new engine technologies. The problem of increasingly hot engines is solved by synthetics because they reduce friction and, consequently, the primary by-product of friction, which is heat. Even in the presence of heat they are oxidatively stable. The problem of soot, a major issue in diesels, finds its solution in synthetic motor oils because high quality additives typically found in synthetics and synthetic basestocks themselves are better at holding soot in suspension.

Extreme drain intervals may be desired by those who have no interest in car maintenance, but realistically synthetics, while offering longer drain intervals cannot eliminate the need for oil changes altogether.

THE LANDSCAPE OF TOMORROW
There are limits to how far oil drains can be extended, no matter what our designing women desire. This is because it's clear that nearly everyone is interested in a cleaner environment and to get those reduced emissions and cleaner air involves trade-offs.

Nevertheless, it's a sure thing that whatever engine conditions await our lubricants, synthetic engine oils will be better suited to meet those demands. With the average drain interval in Europe over 10,000 miles and a 7500 mile oil change within U.S. normal recommendations, it seems the most important thing is to make sure you address these two key concerns. First, that you provide synthetic motor oils designed for these more demanding times. And second, that you insure sufficient margins to compensate for the longer drain intervals.

Ultimately, I see a future with cleaner water and cleaner air because engine makers have made a green commitment. Maybe the women who want a 30,000 mile oil change won't get what they want... but with synthetics we can help them get closer to what they need.

Ed Newman is Marketing & Advertising Manager for AMSOIL INC.