2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport Pothole Mitigation
Most folks have spent at least a little time on a road with awful potholes. Most of us have taken our bumps and bruises and just hoped to get past the bad stretch quickly, but Ford is doing something different. With new pothole mitigation technology standard on the 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport (coming out later this year), sedan drivers will be able to enjoy a smooth ride no matter the road conditions.
Not every vehicle can be an off-road accessorized super-Jeep. Pothole damage costs drivers about $3 billion annually in the United States alone. To create the best suspension system possible, Ford has invested in a testing ground in Lommel, Belgium with samplings of some of the worst road conditions around the world, from massive potholes to cobblestones. The 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport pothole mitigation system is one of the advances that has come from that testing.
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Continuous Control Damping with Pothole Mitigation
Standard on many European Ford models, and now standard on the new Fusion V6 Sport, continuous control damping with pothole mitigation is an advanced computer-controlled shock absorber system designed to offer the smoothest ride in the worst conditions. This will be the first midsize sedan to benefit from this advanced suspension technology.
Using twelve high-resolution sensors the 2017 Ford Fusion‘s computer system can adjust the sedan’s dampers every two milliseconds to meet changing road conditions. This means that when the car’s front wheel reaches a pothole the suspension can automatically adjust the dampers to their stiffest setting so that the wheel doesn’t move very far into the pothole. This minimizes the jerk when the wheel reaches the other side. The back wheel can react even more smoothly to minimize the small impacts of uneven ground. Check out the video for a demonstration of this effect in action.
“The new Fusion V6 Sport substantially reduces the harsh impact potholes often deliver,” says Jason Michener, Ford continuously controlled damping engineering expert, in a recent Ford press release. “Our new pothole mitigation technology works by actually detecting potholes and ‘catching’ the car’s wheel before it has a chance to drop all the way into the pothole.”
The 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport will also be available with two suspension settings: normal, and sport mode. Combined with its 325-horsepower 2.7-liter twin-turbocharged V6 EcoBoost engine, this means that this midsize sedan will offer premium handling and breathless power.
