Most kids know what it’s like to feel motion sickness, maybe on a rollercoaster or a bumpy plane ride but definitely in the backseat of a car.
When I heard of a new “comfort stop” feature designed to alleviate car sickness, the idea captured my attention. I wanted to take a ride and experience the technology because I still get carsick.
Then I learned that the issue isn’t limited to people.
“Motion sickness in dogs is super common,” said Dr. Alex Schechter, owner of Burrwood Veterinary in Royal Oak. “We’re prescribing anti-nausea meds every day, especially in the summer when everyone starts to travel.”
So who is behind this tech that could make all us passengers feel less yucky? Bosch.
Dave Safstrom took me a for a drive in Plymouth to experience how it will work when (and if) it’s adopted for use in North America. I noticed a difference, feeling nausea without use of the tech and no nausea as a passenger with use of the “comfort stop” tech. This is about coordinating the braking system with vehicle dynamics, the Bosch engineer explained.
The “comfort stop” tech changes how the brake system works, making it less jerky or jarring. Or, very simply, preventing the coffee “slosh” when braking at a stop sign. It may sound trivial but millions of dollars have been invested in studies, technology and testing with people.
“The type of brake system varies car to car,” Safstrom told me. “This creates an independent control to decrease braking force, easing up on the brake at the stop. We see decoupled systems as a trend for brakes. This reduces the head bob when braking, bringing the car seamlessly to a standstill. A drive can select whether the technology is on or off.”
‘We want to prioritize safety’
The German engineering and technology company is in talks with global automakers about integrating the new software into vehicles — either by downloading the software into the system during an over-the-air update or building it in.
Bosch said vehicles in North America don’t have it yet but it’s likely coming to a car near you.
Cars in China have been using the tech for some time, Bosch confirmed, as families often drive together with older parents in the backseat, making comfort a high priority.
This sort of tech is not unlike adaptive cruise control, Safstrom said. “We want to prioritize safety.”
Companies investing in autonomous technology find this tech appealing because everyone is a passenger when the vehicle is driverless, and customer experience is key to adoption.
Motion sickness happens when a person or animal is in motion — like in a motor vehicle — while sitting still, according to the Cleveland Clinic website. The eyes, inner ear and body send conflicting messages to the brain, causing nausea, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, rapid breathing, headaches and breaking out in a cold sweat. Focusing on a stationary object in the distant horizon or keeping the head still by resting against the seatback may help, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Monica L.H. Jones, associate director and research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, told me she has collected motion sickness data from more than 275 participants in UMTRI in-vehicle studies conducted on-road and on a closed test track. Separately, in a recent UMTRI-led online survey of more than 10,000 individuals, 76% of passengers reported some level of motion sickness susceptibility, compared with drivers.
Her interest in the subject isn’t purely academic, according to a paper she published in 2019. “I get motion sickness all the time, and experienced it growing up too … I am the driver in our family for that reason alone.”
Bosch lists this area of focus as vehicle motion management.
Benefits for dogs and kids
Car companies rarely talk about kids or pets but they’re top priorities in every family.
Beth Bond of Oakland County, a Bosch business strategist, told me the feedback from a recent ride-and-drive test group in Plymouth has been animated. One woman said, “My dog is going to love this function. She’s such a drama queen whenever I brake to stop.”
Bond has a dog too, a Husky mix named Kya. “Our dog throws up in every car ride we go on. It’s the worst. Whenever we bring her to the groomer, it can be a 10-minute ride, and she throws up. The kids are grossed out. We put a blanket down and she crawls underneath. We have to clean up the car every single time.”
Dr. Schechter has a Shih Tzu named Cy who gets sick too on car rides. “A lot of times it’s just drooling nonstop or vomiting. It can be bumps in the road, the stop-and-go, anxiety from travel. A huge subset of dogs have motion sickness. It’s extremely common.”
Bond drove in the vehicle with me to experience the technology and fielded questions about its potential impact on child passengers. That’s when she revealed she has two daughters, ages 12 and 6, and the youngest suffers extreme nausea on long trips.
“This function could really help with my daughter’s car sickness,” Bond said. “We always have a bag in the back of the car. This is a thing we deal with as parents that no one really talks about: Motion sickness.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website warms that children ages 2-12 experience motion sickness the most frequently. And online forums are devoted to parents seeking advice for carsick kids.
Meanwhile, the American Kennel Club website warns dog owners that puppies are especially susceptible to carsickness — like young children — because the structures in the inner ear used for balance aren’t fully developed yet. Of course, like humans, some dogs never outgrow the nausea and vomiting.
Who knew that jerky drives could make kids and dogs so sick? All these years, I was embarrassed by the perceived weakness. Now I realize it’s basic physiology.
While Automotive News wrote that the Bosch technology “aims to smooth stops before the coffee spills,” I would argue that the compelling case for Bosch “comfort stop” tech is that it can help alleviate the very real issue of carsickness that the auto industry doesn’t discuss. It’s not glamorous but it’s really, really important — especially during summer travel season.
Phoebe Wall Howard’s car culture column runs every other week in The Detroit News. She also writes a weekly “Shifting Gears” column on Substack at phoebewallhoward.substack.com. Contact her at phoebe@phoebehoward.com.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Howard: This tech could make carsickness a thing of the past
Reporting by Phoebe Wall Howard, Special to The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
