Ford is integrating electrodes on car-seat to monitor heart rate

"Elderly drivers are at a greater risk of heart disease, so at Ford, we are integrating six electrodes into our seats to help monitor the driver's heart rate and stress levels," wrote the company on its Facebook fan page. The idea seems to be controversial, some of the people commenting under the post like it, others don't.

Those who are in favor say the heart monitoring seat could help people calm down behind the wheel if the user interaction is done properly. The question is what happens when someone has heart attack while driving. Will the Ford's heart-rate monitoring seat automatically call 911? In fact, there is a suggestion to link the heart-rate monitoring indicator to the nearest EMT through Ford's Sync.

On the other hand the idea is not accepted unilaterally. Some say, by doing this Ford is reinforcing the idea that most of its drivers are elderly drivers and that instead Ford should focus on building better cars, which it has started doing in the past several years.

Some of the opinions that we read at Ford Facebook Fan-page had to do with too much tech in cars. "Too much non-driving related tech in cars these days. What's next? A car with a built-in toaster because drivers don't have time to waste because of their 50-mile commute from the suburbs? Maybe Ford should aim their efforts at reducing heart disease in the first place, like supporting healthy eating and exercise," writes Vince Zalamea.

Overall, the idea is a good one. Anything that can reduce the heart-related accidents on the roads and increase driving safety is much welcome.