Inventors dream up gadgets for GM
By Ed Garsten
Associated Press Auto Writer
DETROIT — At first it looks as if there's been a messy accident in the front seat of the pickup truck. The top of the center console is flooded with an inch-deep layer of sticky, lime-green goop.
It's no accident.
The gelatinous substance could be the cup-holder of the future.
"Whatever you put in it it's going to conform, it's going to hold into place," says inventor Kevin Kolpasky.
Sure enough, whether it's a cup or cell phone, purse or loose change for tolls, it all just sticks in the stuff and never moves. When you remove the item, the gel reverts to its original shape within a minute or two.
The goop is still in development, but Kolpasky says its working title is "the Goo Gripper."
While not as momentous as other automotive innovations such as antilock brakes or air bags, coming up with useful, but oddball inventions like the Goo Gripper are the mission of Kolpasky and eight colleagues.
They work in the lofty sounding Design and Technology Fusion group at General Motors Corp.
Goo, of course, isn't all they do. At a show-and-tell preview of concept vehicles and technology staged for the media Thursday, Kolpasky proudly pointed out a shiny wheel hub that is set on bearings so that its logo is always face up.
That alone would be some sort of improvement over current hubs that spin making logos unreadable with the vehicle in motion. But Kolpasky then saves the best for last.
He flips down the hub 90 degrees, converting it into a step, which is handy if you want to see into the bed of a pickup truck or want to grab an item from there.
"If you put it on an SUV or a minivan it's going to make it easier to reach the luggage rack," says Kolpasky. You also could have it on a front wheel to make it easier to wash or brush snow from the windshield.
Back inside the cabin is a black four-spoke steering wheel. But in a flash, two spokes slide together converting the wheel to a three-spoke model for a race car look. The driver can configure the wheel to create a more comfortable grip, or simply to make "some kind of off the wall statement with your steering wheel," says Kolpasky.
Alas, the Goo Gripper, Step Rim and the unnamed reconfigurable steering wheel are nowhere near ready for installation on a production vehicle.
"We're kind of at ground-zero on these," says Kolpasky. "These are lower-tech kinds of items."
