Howzabout…

A friend asked me this the other day, and I was embarrassed to realize that it hadn’t really occurred to me, which makes this a perfect example of how ideas are never going to be fully thought out in a vacuum.

I’m sure there are many other factors that I have neglect to account for, and this area of the site is meant to help me identify and incorporate the thoughts of the Howzabout community.

To answer the above question, I suppose the mechanism could just be replicated on the passenger side. Which makes me realize (he he) that in my explanation I refer to the 10 o’clock position when I ought to have said the 2 o’clock position. I think I’ll go fix that….

Building A Better … Ashtray?!

The Problem
Cigarette smokers make their automobiles unpleasant and unhealthy for non-smokers. The smell surely has a negative impact on resale value as well.

The Opportunity
Develop a ventilation system that reduces the amount of lingering smoke in the passenger cabin.

The Insight
Roof pillars can be tubular to increase strength for added protection in rollovers, which allows them to double as air ducts.

The Execution
Move the ashtray from the center column, where it ordinarily sits out of easy view, necessitating drivers to divert their attention from the road, to the 2 o’clock position, between the windscreen and door window, thus enhancing safety and moving lit cigarettes away from passengers. By incorporating a powered fan to pull smoke up and out of a roof vent, the amount of smoke build-up is vastly reduced, as is the instance of ash covering interior surfaces.

The Selling Point
Cold and/or rainy days no longer would produce the miserable condition of huddling at a cracked window in order to vent the car while assuaging the nicotine gods. This approach would also minimize the impact of secondhand smoke on the health of regular passengers, which are often the driver’s own children. Rental cars would be more accommodating to non-smokers as well.

The Incidental Benefits
A ceramic lined receptacle could allow a butt to be dropped into the ashtray while still lit. The lack of ash build up might also encourage smokers to break another terrible habit – that of infuriatingly throwing butts out of their car windows – by making the currently dirty task of emptying an ashtray much cleaner and easier. The resulting reduction of litter and avoidable roadside fires allows this concept to positively impact society in general.

The Howzabout blog serves as a forum to discuss automotive improvements of all sorts. Read some other car improvement freebies in the $250,000 Dollar Ideas post.

Click here to download the Howzabout.org press release.

Once I’ve had a chance to incorporate some of the feedback I hope to receive here, I want to get the idea out into the world and in front of as many people as I can. I’ll be creating a press release and sending it to the major automotive magazines. Any suggestions where else I should send it? I doubt the major news agencies would take this seriously at the moment, but maybe there are some specialized press agencies I should contact?

Ideas can always be refined, and I’m open to suggestions. Thanks for taking an interest in my concept.