Ah, the first day on a new jobsite. The hi-viz outfits, the chatter of friend groups meeting back up, stories exchanged of adventures since the last time everyone saw each other. For new workers, though, the first day is often a stressful one. There are new social circles to navigate, and nowhere is this more apparent than at lunch. Which group do you eat with? Which will even let you sit with them?
Perhaps, for the nervous newcomer, it’s easier to eat alone. To hide out in your van, finish your brown bagged PB&J and apple quickly, and rejoin the groups in more structured circumstances — running wiring, perhaps. Luckily, Ford now has a solution for this exact, all-too-common situation: A Transit steering wheel that transforms into a lunch table.
The latest versions of the Ford Transit (called the Tourneo in some markets, hence the video above) contains an interesting steering wheel design. The center of the wheel appears to be locked to the steering column, but the outer rim is able to pivot vertically to form a sort of table. It seems to have two detents, one angled for laptop use and another that’s flat for lunch eating or other flat-surface activities.
Given the wheel’s design, it seems unlikely that this table would work properly if your van is parked with the front wheels turned and it’s worth double checking it for flatness before placing any particularly roll- or slide-prone objects on its surface. The last thing you want is for that carton of milk to go slipping off the edge, saturating your carpet with dairy that’ll never come out. That’s a worse look than just sitting with the uncool kids on the first day.