While driving the 2013 Ford Fusion Titanium, the stand-out feature for me was the game controller they call a steering wheel. This is not a complaint, but a compliment, as getting accustomed to the arrangement of all those buttons was quicker and easier than in any other vehicle I’ve driven.
The thing with technology in cars is that no matter how much they add, there’s only so much space in which the driver can control it all. Have you ever glimpsed the inside of a pilot’s cockpit on an airplane? That’s where it sometimes feels like we’re going with cars and that’s not a good thing.
Concerns about distracted driving are increasingly valid as the number of things we can do while we’re behind the wheel increases with each new generation of vehicles. The 2013 Ford Fusion Titanium manages to pack in an impressive number of features and lets you easily control them all. Having the buttons neatly arranged right at your fingertips means your eyes never have to leave the road.
The 2013 Ford Fusion Titanium steering wheel has two D-pads that let you navigate through the infotainment menus. You don’t need to look at them. You don’t need to move your hands on the wheel. You just need to move your thumbs the tiniest bit inward and you are in control of everything. It’s exactly like using a game controller.
Although a steering wheel that reminds you of a game controller might seem like a bad thing, it is actually a very, very good thing, especially when it comes to avoiding distracted driving. Just think about your average gamer and you’ll see the perfection of this arrangement.
Gamers sit on their couches with controllers clutched in their hands and their eyes glued to a screen. They do not look away from that screen short of a fire or other disaster happening in their living room. Distracted gaming means you get fragged so gamers are masters of focusing on what they see while navigating complicated menus with a controller they know by feel, not by sight.
Now replace the game screen with the road and the controller with a steering wheel. What do you get? A driver whose eyes are glued to the road with no need to look away. It’s brilliant, and I can’t help but wonder if there are a few closet gamers in the design department at Ford.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
