Ford ensures you never need to hit a pothole again

ford pothole detection

Potholes and cars don’t go very well – most times, you’d be lucky if encounters with irregular road surfaces don’t damage your wheel or other vehicular bits, but now, Ford says it has developed a computer-controlled shock absorber system that will help minimise pothole damage as well as improve ride over bad roads.

The continuously controlled damping system, which makes its working debut in the V6 Sport variant of the 2017 Fusion (known as the Mondeo in other markets), is said to be able to significantly reduce the harsh impact potholes often deliver. It does this by employing pothole mitigation technology that detects potholes and ‘catches’ the car’s wheel before it has a chance to drop all the way in.

Onboard computers analyse multiple signals collected from 12 high-resolution sensors, and help adjust the dampers every two milliseconds for the best vehicle response in every situation. When the system detects the leading edge of a pothole, the vehicle’s computer adjusts the dampers faster than the blink of an eye to their stiffest settings, so the wheel doesn’t fall as far into the pothole, Ford claims.

Because the tyre and wheel don’t drop as far in, they don’t strike the opposite side of the pothole as harshly. Apparently, the rear suspension can respond even faster, because the action happening in front signals a pre-warning to the rear wheel well before it reaches the pothole.

The system was trialled and tuned by driving over countless, often brutal, square-edged potholes in its evaluation track at the Romeo Proving Grounds in Michigan to refine the software. The automaker’s European proving ground in Lommel, Belgium also chipped in with its more than 100 extreme surfaces replicated from 25 countries, including two kilometrs of potholes.

Sounds like just the thing for Malaysian roads, but one wonders how the system would cope with some of the massive chasms that litter our roads here. Probably wouldn’t save you and your car all the time.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • gaviny on Feb 19, 2016 at 10:54 am

    only in malaysia the sensor actually overheats from overloaded detections

    lol

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 85 Thumb down 0
    • Proton achieving 13% TIV in 2016 on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:01 pm

      Not only overload, the system will be so overwhelmed by our “world class” road condition and eventually decided to commit suicide. Don’t believe? Just drive your car to the one way loop in PJ, courtesy of the NO. 1 songlap city council in Malaysia =MBPJ

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 27 Thumb down 1
      • Potholes I understand. It happens and can be fixed. What I don’t get it, why is there a need to be so much manholes in the middle of the freaking road!! Most of the time, it’s not potholes, it’s the freaking manholes. If it freaking flushed with the road, I don’t mind, but it’s deeper and bigger than regular potholes, and nothing can be done about it, accept to remove it, or not putting it in the middle of the freaking road at the first place.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 0
        • tracey on Feb 19, 2016 at 6:09 pm

          the manholes were there flush with the road originally. It’s when they “resurfaced” the road that the manholes became potholes. REsurfacing as the word implies means taking off the old surface & putting on a new one. That way, the manholes would still be flush with the road. BUT the way it’s done in this country, a new layer is added on top of the old one. It all boils down to common sense & monitoring/qc of contractors work by the jkr or city council responsible for the roads. Bet you nobody checks & give a “certificate of fitness” before contractors are paid. And we all know why lah ;)

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
      • Seriously? I tought Pj is an elite area so this probs lesser than other cities

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
        • poor malaysian on Feb 19, 2016 at 4:55 pm

          Take a ride on LDP, you will see a lot of road abuser on the road which this highway having a signboard of NO TRUCKS, NO HEAVY TRAILER, NO MOTORBIKES and NO EXCAVATORS on this road. Anyhow, being Malaysian with Malaysian mentality they just love to ignore it. that’s how you get manhole on these highways as it is never designed to take these heavy loads.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
      • kzm (Member) on Feb 19, 2016 at 3:27 pm

        Why selangor govt dont change MBPJ city council if they songlaping? MBPJ is under their jurisdiction rite?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
    • camtakpro on Feb 19, 2016 at 3:12 pm

      Either overheat, or get short-circuited because of flood.

      In the end every 2 months go service center wait for parts arrival to fix this sensors.

      Fix that PowerShift gearbox first before introducing new things to service.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
  • I think its useless to here super deep potholes.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • But I don’t understand why the tyre won’t drop to potholes by adjust the damper. Its float On potholes?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 1
    • Megane on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:23 pm

      The suspension is stiffened milliseconds once the leading edge of the pothole is detected . It’s kind of shortened – so the tyre is not dropped . See the ping pong balls hardly move apart from the wind effect .

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
    • physics lesson on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:43 pm

      No the tyres don’t float. Unlike normal shocks that extend the wheel fully to touch the surface (which in most cases destroys the tyre and rim if the hole is too deep), the shock retracts/stays unextended almost immediately when it receives the signal, using the car’s inertia to stay level (you could see the car sink when passing the pothole in the video but very slowly because of inertia), and hopefully the car maintains level passing the hole before the wheel drops into it.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
      • If two front wheel together meet potholes, will it works? U know that Malaysia potholes not only 1.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 1
        • farhanatan on Feb 20, 2016 at 10:23 am

          Very logical question. And yes, if the potholes are 3 metres in length?
          Woah so bad aaa malaysian roads?

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
          • smarttess on Feb 22, 2016 at 1:38 am

            There’s a correct name for a 3 metre “pothole. It’s called a sinkhole.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • hafiz on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:44 pm

      yes… it floats…
      my guess is, the sensor, sense the sudden height change bcoz of the potholes,
      it retracts or harden the suspension so that the tyre wont go deep in the potholes
      thus the tyre is floating

      the case with normal suspension is when it enters pothole, the normal suspension pushes the tyre into the pothole.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
    • Meejawa on Feb 19, 2016 at 1:03 pm

      Looks like it. But I don’t have confidence it will remain floating if one is braking. They physics of it just doesn’t gel.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • The one wheel is supported by the three other wheels. Like a table on uneven surface, the one leg will float for a while.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
    • Kawaiik on Feb 19, 2016 at 3:44 pm

      The sensors senses the pothole and quickly tell the shocks to be as stiff as possible so that it wont collapse towards the pothole. As an example while servicing the car, when u lift it up the shock length increases rite? The ccd prevents the shock from expanding so that it “floats” on a pothole

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • mango on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:08 pm

    This is going to be useless in KL soon because KL will be pothole free by then

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 1
  • Tupac on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    I believe that one front-wheel will float over the pothole and rely on the three remaining wheels for balance. Then the rear-wheel will float over the pothole again as the car moves forward. Brilliant!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • 4G63T DSM on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:28 pm

    Potholes?

    I want this to detect speedhumps!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
  • Ah Kai on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    Nice feature but useless in Bolehland. The sensors got fed up & malfunction. Cost more $$$ to fix.Then have to wait for parts coming from nowhere bla bla bla..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • The dampers will cost a bomb more than the rims.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • Proud Malaysian on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    Only in Malaysia where there are more potholes than every single Ringgit I can count in my bank account.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • TopsyBoXyTurvy on Feb 19, 2016 at 12:59 pm

    Wat abt speed bump? Speed bumps here are as damaging as poth holes. Malaysia speed bump aslo number one u know.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • 12 sensors to do d job?
    Somebody pocket gonna have a hole in it changing parts

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • kumaka on Feb 19, 2016 at 11:18 pm

    pothole size in Malaysia can easily swallow a whole car…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Kopi O kosong on Feb 20, 2016 at 12:40 am

    This function will not be offered and removed when entering Malaysia market. Malaysia full of kosong spec car.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Use pick up truck with large tires. Problem solved. Cheaper too.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • normal_user on Feb 21, 2016 at 11:32 am

    Brilliant tech. Volvo had this kind of tech some 10 years back too to adjust damping rate by using road surface sensors. But this one just pretty awesome.

    Obviously with such tech, cost can be a great issue. Typical shock absorbers already cost thousands for B-segment cars, so wonder if it is really worth it.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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