“Change By Design” is a circa 1974 color film that discusses the automobile industry’s need to design automobiles that are not only good looking but also safe. The film opens in the design center of the Ford Motor Company, where we are told engineers are already embracing a “new era” of design that stresses driver safety. At mark 02:10, a reporter sits down with Ford’s director of safety design to discuss the federal government’s increased involvement in automobile safety and new safety standards. Cameras follow workers through a plant while it is explained how those standards resulted in redesigning several aspects of automobile models for better sight lines (including the possible inclusion of a “periscope” on top of a car, shown at mark 04:10). Back to the interview, Ford’s safety design director tries to explain that the company had always tried to balance safety and design — even without federal government involvement — as well as creating designs that are attractive and functional as the camera pans across the massive dashboard and instrument panel of one model.

Additional safety measures are discussed as at mark 08:45 we witness a series of tests using crash-test dummies at Ford’s automotive safety research center. Among the devices undergoing extensive testing, we are told at mark 09:28, is the airbag, “an innovation which the industry has viewed with some skepticism.” Innovations in seatbelt safety is discussed at mark 11:00 at researchers are shown engaged in conversation around drawing boards. “Is it fair to force a man to wear a seatbelt or a safety harness? To say you must wear it. What if a man doesn’t want to? Isn’t that a violation of his Constitutional rights?,” the reporter asks. Ford equates seatbelt use with wearing a motorcycle helmet, adding “a man has a right to commit suicide … or to do things that are hazardous to his health.” The film continues at mark 15:35 as we see a lengthy discussion of experimental vehicles built specifically for safety from the drawing board to the testing the various components as well as the finished product. Some of those safety measures, particularly bumper design, were implemented in the 1972 Ford Torino, shown at mark 22:33.