Ford Equips Fusion V-6 2017 With Pothole Detection Technology

The 2017 Fusion V-6 sport can detect potholes and take measures for drivers accordingly.

Ford equips its new 2017 Fusion V-6 with its pothole-detection feature. The American automaker’s huge Ford Expedition SUV and Lincoln luxury vehicles are also equipped with the same feature.

The computer of the car, in which this detection system is installed, detects when it runs over a pothole, and then adjusts the shock absorbers instantly to ensure that the tire does not fall in the depression. It is working in such a good manner that the Michigan-based company can show how the vehicle can be driven over a pothole without breaking ping-pong balls inside it.

Spokesman of Ford, Aaron Miller, said the pothole protection technology will be a standard feature of the vehicle. The automaker cited AAA as stating potholes are responsible for damages costing $300 per car and $3 billion every year. The technology works by using a dozen of high-resolution sensors.

In every two milliseconds, the computer could adjust suspension dampers. It starts to operate at the soonest as the vehicle encounters the pothole’s lid – stiffening the shock absorbing system to ensure that the vehicle’s front wheel does not drop inside the hole.

Since car’s front wheel has already responded, computer now knows that its rear wheel has prepared for also encountering the pothole. The system was developed at a pothole filled test center in Belgium. There are surfaces in the center with a 1.2-mile stretch, which have been developed to replicate some of the world’s worst roads.

Fusion V-6 Sport, which would be available in showrooms in the coming summer, is well known midsize sedan’s performance version. A 2.7-liter twin turbocharged V-6 EcoBoost engine is installed in the car to power. This engine produces 325 horsepower.

According to Digital trends, Ford has claimed if the computers of Fusion detect a pothole, they will actually use the hardest setting that would in turn ensure that the wheel does not fall into the pothole to the extent it would have fallen in case of a soft setting. Ford also claimed that engineers put their spines at risk while driving vehicles over “countless” potholes for tuning the software.

In other news, MSNBC has reported that Ford would no longer remain a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), joining the list of a number of huge companies that have left it. It has not discussed the reasons behind its decision to part ways with the lobbying organization. Six months ago, Google announced to distance away from ALEC.