Are any NAM members involved with a manufacturing business that might want to take on some new projects?:


I have an '04 MINI Cooper with sunroof. I noticed 3 shortcomings with the car the bunch of times I test drove it, and knew I would buy the car anyway and try to come up with some fixes for my own use....but they came out so well, that I feel I have some viable products here. The shortcomings:

1) the lack of an opaque shade for our large sunroof;

2) the lack of a decent cupholder for our useless stock cupholders;

3) the fact that our front visors are too puny and short to adequately block the sun.

I have tried peddling my ideas to a few of the vendors on the MINI forums and they all say: nice idea, works well, looks good, but we are too busy to develop a specialty product for a limited market like the MINI......I am hoping that one of you out there might have some suggestions for a manufacturer of interior car products who might want to take on some new products and have an exclusive market:


items:


1) an opaque shade for the sunroof.....this is NOT a cardboard place-in thing that you put in or out each time you need to use it to block the overhead sun blaring through the mesh...mine is a permanent retractible opaque shade that you can use, or when not in use rolls up to be basically invisible, and then you can still use or not use the mesh shade or the sunroof glass...you can even have the front half opaque and leave the rear half mesh so the sun overhead is blocked, but light can still filter through the mesh behind in to the car....and my shade is shiny and light colored on the outside of the shade to reflect the heat of the sun out of the car. This is easily and permanently attached with no drilling or modificaton and can be removed easily if desires



2) the best darn cupholder yet for the MINI. It holds your drinks, even a 24 oz gatorade bottle, down near the level of the stock cupholders but not under the toggle switch bank. So the drink is where you would expect it to be, not bumping into the the passenger's knees or up near the air conditioning vents or splashing over the radio/AC controls



3) a visor extender attachment.......essentially flexible vinyl/plastic and fabric and velcro....attaches to the visors (one for each side) and has extenders that pull out to block the sun, which the MINI's puny stock visors do not do too well. This item might also have some application for cars in addition to the MINI as on Miata forums and Beetle forums there were also some complaints of the visors being too short......please note, my visor extender has pull-outs to the left and right to make the visor act longer, not to act deeper.


Any help you could provide would be appreciated......a couple of the larger vendors said that if these products were presented to them already to ship, they would and could sell them...they just do not want to bother with the manufacturing of them....me neither as I am not in manufacturing....I'm just your friendly neighborhood optometrist in Massachustts who is bothered by, and aware of, glare issues with the MINI (sunroof and visor product) and hated the huge monstrosity afterthought cupholder they put in my car at the dealer.

My plan is to simply sell my idea to a manufacturer who would then produce it....I do not want to be involved in the manufacturing. I have working prototypes in my car and working prototypes to send out....as well as some email pictures I could send and a homemade (USA format) video showing the products at work and the 'how to install' video

a lil help would be nice

Russell

 

anyone care to comment on any of these ideas?

 

all 3 are great ideas. i don't have to use the cupholder when working on the cars but i do hate when the sun is all over my face on the test drives.
good luck with finding a partner!

 

As far as the extended sun visor goes, that not an issue with me. BUT, the itty-bitty side visor is as good as useless. Needs to be longer. Being tall, my seat is all the way back, and reclined some.

 

I would like a shade for the sunroof but that is it. I don't use the small visors except when I put my shade in the windscreen. As for the cup holder... that is the way the Germans designed it and I like it like that. There are NO drinks allowed in my car that are larger than a bottle of water anyway!

 

I could have sworn that I saw a visor extender on one of the MINI vendor websites, but I can't find it now. It was a tinted acrylic panel that clips onto the sun visor and hinged to fold out to extend the visor. It seemed like a generic automotive product, not specifically made for MINI.

 

I think I saw that one too...it wasn't opaque, just a tint, which if the sun is blinding you, you would want it to be opaque...that one did look kinda black plasitcky....mine blends in nicely with the headliner and the pull-outs are opaque

there is only one other extender for the visor that I could find...a product called ' extend-a-visor ' that also looks kinda black-plasticky and only extends on one side...mine extends on 2 sides

 

They do make a rolling mat for the sunroof. I forget which MINI site I saw it advertised on.

 

a rolling mat? I've never seen it...do you think it is something you leave in there permanently like mine, or is it something you take out when the sun isn't a problem and you take it out and roll it up and stow it somewhere

 

It was removeable.

Art

 

for me the visor thing is not an issue but, i think its a good idea.

the stock cup holders suck. any improvement is great.

retractable sunroof shade is also a great idea. i would pick one up for sure.

thats my 2 cents.

good luck!

 

I wish somebody would make something to cover the a/c vent on top of the dash which would then direct the extra air flow towards the cabin. With the gaping hole on the dash my radar detectors stays cool but the driver doesn't get enough of the airflow.

 

please note: I editedthe original post to include a few more details of descriptions of the product ideas.


Come on, people, there must be someone out there who's in manufacturing, or who knows someone in manufacturing, who would like to have exclusivity on these 3 interior items.....I've spoken to some distributors who said if they were already manufactured and crated, they would sell them. Even MINI/BMW said that even though they do not get into maufacturing small acessory items like these, if they were made and ready to sell (and work and look as good as the video I sent them.....they do!) that they might go OEM with them and sell them at the dealers

any further suggestions?

 

Call invention submission corp. (the people who run commercials on TV) you could have your products on an infomercial! But in all seriousness, they might be able to hook you up with a manufacturer. (For a fee)

 

Russell,

I would advise AGAINST invention submission corp. If it is something that will make any $$$ they will steal the idea. I say start with the patent process and then you are at least safe to send this out and see what happens.