autoevolution
 

Ford Patent Turns Door Handle into Hand Sanitizer

Browsing patent applications is like paying a visit to your local nutcase hospital and chatting to its inhabitants: you'll come across more crazy ideas in a minute than you have in your entire life up to that point.
Ford F-150 interior 1 photo
Photo: Ford
We've featured some of them on autoevolution before and Ford is no stranger to attempting to make our lives better through needlessly complicated means. Perhaps you can still remember the onboard water dispenser that collects humidity from the air conditioning system and offers it to the car occupants to drink? If that's not crazy, we don't know what is.

The ease with which the blue oval company is registering its inventions might explain why Ford is the owner of most 2016 industry patents in the U.S., a title that sounds better on paper than in reality. And that's because a large part of the 1,500 patents are useless, with some even qualifying as ridiculous or downright hilarious.

That being said, we still don't know what to think of this new one filed by Ford back in 2015 but only published last Thursday. It definitely seems laughable at first, but if you give it a bit more consideration, it might actually start making some sense. And if you go even deeper, you realize it could even be a lifesaver on a few odd occasions.

We all know that the fuel dispensers at a gas station and our own mobile phones are two of the dirtiest things you can put your hands on. Few of us are attentive enough to carry a hand sanitizer at all times and, even if we did, rubbing it on our hands after each use of the phone wouldn't leave us with much time for anything else during the day.

However, hand hygiene is more important than we realize and when done properly, it can save people from a lot of parasites and diseases. Which is why AutoGuide informs us that Ford is thinking about turning the door handles of its cars into instant hand sanitizers.

Don't worry, it won't spray you or anything - it works much more subtly than that. It uses a built-in "light-producing-assembly" that emits light of different wavelengths. The light then hits the surface of the handle which activates its outer layer of disinfectant just as the user touches it.

Naturally, to make it even more useful, Ford would have to change the interior design of its vehicles to accommodate larger door handles, because only cleaning the tips of two or three of your fingers isn't going to do much in the fight against bacteria, viruses, fungi or any other pathogen agents.

Another thing the patent isn't clear about is whether the special layer needs "refilling" after a while or it can function throughout the whole lifespan of a vehicle. Or maybe the bill of your next period check will also read "replaced hygienic door handles" right after the "replaced pollen filter" entry.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Vlad Mitrache
Vlad Mitrache profile photo

"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories