How I Drive | Profile of Ford Engineer Rebecca Seiler

Ford’s Rebecca Seiler and I have at least one thing in common – our love for manual cars! After driving manuals for 6+ years and loving it, I’m not exactly sure why my current car is an automatic. Back to Rebecca: after joining Ford in 1996, she’s worked through several roles and is currently Product Engineer for Collision Avoidance and Driver Support Technologies a.k.a. helping keep Ford drivers safe.

We’ve actually had the pleasure to interview Rebecca on how she and colleague Jennifer Shaw (profile coming soon!) helped make the 2013 Ford Fusion safer to drive. Let’s learn a bit about Rebecca’s driving style:

How I Drive | Rebecca Seiler

Location: Northville, MI (Metro Detroit)

Daily Driver: Race Red 2012 Ford Focus SE Hatchback with 5-speed manual transmission. Would have LOVED to get the Focus ST but it wasn’t available yet in 2011 when I desperately needed a new vehicle. Manual transmission is a must for me (manual = fun to drive) so I opted for the model I could get and added the sport package.

Time Spent Driving/day: 1.5 hours

Road most traveled: A scenic winding local road, Hines Drive, that connects Northville to Dearborn (and many cities in-between). Or the most direct (but congested) freeway route of 1-96 / Southfield Fwy.

Driving Style in One Word: Swift

In-Car Must Haves:

• 2 Child Seats – I have 2 daughters (3 and 5 years old) so my backseat has been converted to a toddler transporter.

• Yoga mat – With 2 small chidren, my husband and I fit in fitness when we can and many times on the fly. So I keep my yoga mat handy.

• 2 Pink Nalgene bottles – My daily drink is a homebrew green tea latte (almond milk w/ matcha powder and vanilla extract). I enjoy this on my way to work and always have another bottle with water around.

• Selima Optique sunglasses – My commute is directly into the sun (at least on the days when Mother Nature is good to Michiganders) – these are a stylish must have.

• Burt’s Bees Chapstick – I’m addicted.

Driving tunes: Alternative rock (the original stuff from the late 80’s/early 90’s), Classical crossover music (Ahn Trio is a favorite), and Top 40. I also frequently catch up on “reading” during my commute with an audio book.

Time-saving technique: I have many morning teleconferences with European colleagues. I’ll occasionally call in from home and drive into the office after rush hour which reduces my commute time in half. On the days I travel to the office early, I have several route choices but the less congested routes have longer mileage. So in the end it’s a wash. I accept my fate and surrender to enjoying a good book or music.

Hanging from rear view: A charm with Hello Kitty making Okonomiyaki. I worked on a joint program with Mazda and spent some time in Hiroshima (Okonomiyaki is a local food dish). It’s a reminder of a fun exploration in my life and who doesn’t like Hello Kitty.

Stay tuned for more “How I drive” profiles. Whose profile do you want to see next?