Trend: Self-Healing Paint

Nissan’s Scratch Guard Coat helps drivers out of a scrape

Trend Description:

Carmakers have been trying for years to offer their customers some sort of reliable scratch-proofing: successes have been few and far between, and the conventional wisdom has been to develop harder grades of paint to give the surface a basic resistance. The Nissan approach, which it has undertaken with Nippon Paint, its supplier, will push research in the opposite direction.

Cases:

The Scratch Guard Coat

Nissan’s The Scratch Guard Coat will soon be making its debut on the notoriously narrow and scratch-prone roads of Japan. The Japanese company will be offering the special paint as an option on its X-Trail SUV before deciding whether to use the product on its range of cars.
The result is a transparent, synthetic resin, the high density of which means that it slowly flows back to fill any cut in its surface. The proposed thickness of the coating is about the same as a normal coat of paint, which means that it will repair scratches made to that depth. The paint has been designed to coat dark cars, but Nissan said that there was no reason why the technology could not be used on lighter hues.

Trend impact:
Japan’s obsession with cleanliness has sent other corporations in a similar direction. Asahi Glass has produced a self-cleaning window, and Panasonic has produced an air-conditioner in which a miniature robot patrols, collecting dust.

Links:
Nissan

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