Latest news with #ChrisFischer
USA Today
2 days ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
How Nissan's cupholder guru is changing the way you drink in your car
How Nissan's cupholder guru is changing the way you drink in your car Show Caption Hide Caption Car maintenance tips you need to know These basic car maintenance tips are vital to your car's longevity. ProblemSolved, Reviewed New drink containers keep changing the shape of cupholders. Door-pocket bottle holders must be easy and safe for the driver to use. The next time you don't spill hot coffee in your lap driving to work, spare a moment to thank Chris Fischer. The vehicle development engineer at Nissan's North American tech center in Farmington Hills, Michigan is one of the engineers and designers automakers charge with staying a step ahead of the world's cup, coffee and container manufacturers. He has been Nissan's go-to guy for cupholders since 2015, when complaints about cupholders weighed down the automaker's customer satisfaction scores ― a key benchmark. It's full-time work. 'Refillable bottles were becoming a big deal, and they were a different size' from the 12-ounce cans and Big Gulp cups automakers had focused on, Fischer told me recently while holding up a large CamelBak bottle. He brought a bottle just like it with him to Japan. To this day, it remains in Nissan's box of samples, all painted a neutral color like modeler's clay for easy digital scanning. Struggling automakers: Can troubled automaker Nissan survive the next 5 years? Why the experts say yes 'Americans put a high value on drinking in our vehicles, and we use a wide variety of sizes,' Fischer said. That behavior was behind cupholder mania, which began in the United States with Chrysler minivans in the 1980s. Cupholders became so popular that automakers promoted the number they offered in a vehicle alongside fuel economy and airbags. But the right design is a moving target. Keeping up with consumer behavior 'How do you fit a CamelBak and a 6-ounce aluminum can in the same holder?' Fischer asked. One answer, spring-loaded plastic fingers that adjust to different sizes of bottles, raised a new question: What shape and strength "finger" will hold a 20-ounce insulated Yeti, but not crush an 8-ounce "short" paper cup? 'You also have to be aware of the holder's depth,' he said. It must be high enough to hold tall bottles, and short enough that it doesn't knock the top off a small paper coffee cup. 'Too big or too small is a problem.' Another challenge: Some people bring their ceramic coffee mugs from home into the vehicle. That led to the development Nissan calls a 'dog bone,' an open space connecting two round holders. A mug handle fits there, though I've discovered it's also a great place for loose coins to take up residence. The design evolved from round holders with a connecting channel to the current Pathfinder's hourglass shape with rounded plastic fingers to keep small containers in place. Design continues to adapt As soon as one question is answered, a new type of container poses another: What to do with juice boxes? Minivans and family SUVs now have square receptacles for them for their kid-dominated rear seats. Extra-large water bottles also pose a challenge. The answer: modified door pockets with holders that are easy to reach without distracting the driver from traffic. 'We're always looking at data,' Fischer said. 'We're the voice of the customer.' The 2022 Pathfinder's cupholders had the highest satisfaction scores in its segment, he said. 'We did our job. It seems like a small thing, but we want to sweat the details. The way cupholders work is important to customer satisfaction. It's a reason to buy a car.' Contact Mark Phelan: mmphelan@ Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
South China Morning Post
08-02-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Who is Chris Fischer, the autistic author-chef husband of Amy Schumer?
Comedian Amy Schumer and her husband, chef Chris Fischer, who married in 2018. Photo: @amyschumer/Instagram Fame and celebrity In a January appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , Amy Schumer had this to say about her husband of almost seven years: 'I love him, I'm married, Chris is his name,' the stand-up comedian told the audience, before hilariously adding, 'he's a rescue.' Schumer , 43, married Chris Fischer in 2018 and the couple have a son, Gene. Over the years, Schumer has regularly shown her love and support for her husband, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder shortly after their wedding. In her 2019 Netflix special, Growing , Schumer talks about her husband's diagnosis. 'I knew from the beginning that my husband's brain was a little different than mine,' she says. 'And once he was diagnosed, it dawned on me how funny it was, because all of the characteristics that make it clear that he's on the spectrum are all of the reasons that I fell madly in love with him.' Comedian Amy Schumer with chef husband Chris Fischer. Photo: @amyschumer/Instagram Here's everything to know about the Kinda Pregnant star's husband, Chris Fischer. Chris Fischer is primarily a chef Amy Schumer's husband Chris Fischer is a chef and farmer. Photo: @amyschumer/Instagram Chris Fischer, 44, a Martha's Vineyard native, is a chef. He once ran the Beach Plum Inn and Restaurant in Menemsha, Massachusetts, frequented by the likes of former president Barack Obama and wife Michelle . Fischer also took over running his family's Beetlebung Farm when his aunt retired in 2010. 'I got into farming partly because I came back from NYC broke and I realised that it only made sense to start using what I was growing,' he said in an interview with Esquire in 2013. In 2015 Fischer co-wrote The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook: A Year of Cooking on Martha's Vineyard , which won the 2016 James Beard Award.
