Inside Brainiac: FR-S/BRZ Lower Pocket Design

One of the challenges with the Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ is finding room to re-locate a physical hazard button.  With the existing OEM design of the dashboard the hazard button is smack-dab in the middle of the dashboard in the area that we replace with our 10.1″ screen.  After many discussions with potential FR-S/BRZ customers on social media and in the forums, we settled on moving the button to the lower pocket area and replacing the existing AUX-in port.

We’ve been posting up different sketches along the way of different hazard button locations, but since we’ve settled on the lower pocket location it was time to get to work on different potential designs.  What makes this a little trickier is that there are two different lower pockets depending on the options you have with this car.  Some have a push-to-start button, and others simply have a pocket.

Our goal is to create a design that can work for both scenarios and looks as if it actually was meant to be there from the factory.  This is a tall order to try and deliver, which had us explore many different designs.  Internally we’ve decided to pursue Design 5.1 which seems to flow with the current pocket design and is neither too “chunky” nor looks “stuck-on”.

We wanted to share with you all of the different design options that we’ve been looking at so that you can weigh in with your opinion as well.  If you think we’re crazy, or you like our choice, let us know 🙂

In the renderings the pocket with the push to start button is on an angle which can make the hazard button trim look slightly different, but that is just the camera angle used in the rendering.  The design and proportions are the same for both pockets.