Ford's boffins create a new pothole detection system
Ford has a solution to the ever-growing pothole problem
There's nothing worse than hitting an unexpected pothole. Many drivers have caused serious damage to their wheels, tyres and suspension due to them. Even if you manage to survive one, the noise they can cause is sometimes enough to make you stain your seats.
Pothole crisis
Drivers in the UK have a serious problem with potholes. This is thanks to the recent spell of sub-zero temperatures, followed by a warm summer climate which has caused the tarmac to crack and deform. The government repairs one every 21 seconds but unfortunately for us, they seem to mate like rabbits at the moment.
www.autospies.com
Ford to the rescue!
The new Focus will feature an all new Pothole Detection System. This tech senses the front wheels lowering as they enter a pothole. The system then adjusts the suspension by limiting how low the wheel drops. As the wheel does not fall as far, it doesn't hit the other end of the pothole as harshly on exit. This is said to reduce the risk of causing damage and discomfort. The rear wheels are then sent a preemptive warning to do the same. This is all said to happen in a split second.
“Potholes are a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon, but with our advanced suspension technology for all-new Focus, we've been able to reduce their impact.” - Guy Mathot, Ford Focus vehicle dynamics supervisor.
Impressively, every two milliseconds the suspension, body, steering and braking inputs are monitored throughout the journey to ensue comfort at all time.
Testing
Ford have been testing this technology on a purpose-built pothole infested road at their test facility in Belgium. They could've saved money and just drove around Basildon in all fairness!
Watch:
The new Ford Focus
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Comments (54)
In Australia we call the pothole repairers ‘GOLFERS’ they do 9 holes in the morning and another 9 after lunch!
😂 love it mate!
That system will go in to overload each time it visits Belgium
Haha 😆
You can only prove how good it is by driving it in India. Fact.
Haha worse than UK roads?
MUCH, in bold letters.
The only car you can be comfortable in, is a Mahindra.
Sounds like a great system. BOSE designed something similar with Lexus a while back but it never made production. The prototype videos are brilliant (wait for it to leap into the air)
youtu.be/3KPYIaks1UY
Thanks for sharing. Very interesting!
It's actually been bought by a company called clearmotion and they are working towards getting it into production soon.
youtu.be/mdlpRAB0Guc
This is a good idea and should be standard on all UK cars. It'd be a waste of money in Germany though.
Haha! I’m sure it will set a future benchmark for future cars.