Early this year, Preh GmbH, Bad Neustadt, Germany, received a contract to supply the center stack interior control system for the Lincoln MKZ. It has now also developed and is producing the rear climate control system and the climate control ECU for Ford’s Lincoln MKT.
In its product development specifications for the interior, Ford stressed that the rotary knobs on the rear climate control system must also differ in feel according to their functions. For example, the user gets a fundamentally different haptic feedback when setting the temperature than when setting the blower speed. Thus the operation of these functions is not only differentiated visually by labeling, but also by distinct haptic coding.
“This haptic coding is a way to make controlling the different functions in the vehicle more straightforward and intuitive. Preh presented a wide range of engineering options for achieving this goal, both in standard production applications and in concept studies,” said Nick Lontscharitsch, senior vice president of sales for Preh, Inc. in Novi, Michigan.
“Preh is considered one of the world’s leading specialists when it comes to characteristic haptics in control systems,” Lontscharitsch added.
The company has already been supplying rear climate control systems for European premium brands for many years, such as the BMW 7 Series, the Rolls-Royce Phantom and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
