Hasta La Gadget!

Inflatable seat belts. At a glance, that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea after all, particularly for those rear seat passengers who aren’t blessed with two huge bags or air right in front of their chest. We’re guessing the top brass at Ford feel pretty much the same way, as the outfit has just announced that these very devices will be making their debut in the next-generation Ford Explorer before rolling out across the fleet. Of course, Lexus is also planning to shove these into its ultra-luxurious LFA (which will probably make a grand total of 14 wealthy owners feel really, really safe), but it’s tough to tell which vehicle will hit the showroom first. Jump past the break for a vid.

Continue reading Ford’s inflatable seat belts headed to Explorer in 2010, other whips in due time (video)

Filed under: Transportation

Ford’s inflatable seat belts headed to Explorer in 2010, other whips in due time (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

We like it when GPS is feeding us information, telling us when traffic is causing a problem and indicating when a bridge is out so that we can warm up our voices ahead of all the hootin’ and a hollerin’ required for our General Lee replica to clear the gap. However, we’re not too keen on the All-Seeing Eye aspect of GPS, and that’s what we’re fearing in Ford’s latest research. The company gave a $120,000 grant to the Auburn University’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory to look into using GPS for accident prevention, and while results won’t be unveiled until later this week, descriptions of “an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control” and then tweaks vehicle traction and stability control settings based on the speed of the car and the severity of upcoming bends sounds a half-step away from the auto-braking assist in Gran Turismo. Or, perhaps that’s just Ford-speak for an Aspid-like system for optimizing suspension based on road twistiness. Given that Ford no longer makes a car designed for going around corners quickly, we find that unlikely.

Update: Wes Sherwood from Ford took the time to comment, indicating that “wide-reaching privacy laws prevent the type of monitoring suggested in this post.” That’s very good to hear. Still no word on when the Mustang will get independent rear suspension, though.

[Via Carperformance]

Filed under: Transportation

Ford GPS tech could tell cars when you’re going too fast originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

It hasn’t been much of a secret that the US government was planning to dole out a couple of billion in battery-related grants to automakers this week, but we only got the details on who gets what today when Vice President Joe Biden made the big announcement himself in Detroit. As you might expect, the big three automakers all got a sizable chunk of the $2.4 billion up for grabs, with GM snagging $240 million for three separate grants, Ford getting $92.7 million (part of which will fund an electric-drive-parts facility in Michigan), and Chrysler receiving $70 million to develop and deploy advanced plug-in hybrid pickups and minivans. The single biggest winner, however, is Johnson Controls Inc., which got close to $300 million to produce battery parts for hybrid and electric vehicles. Chrysler partner A123 Systems Inc. was the next highest with $249.1 million, while EnerDel got $118.5 million that it’ll use for its Indianapolis plant that produces lithium-ion cells and battery packs.

[Image courtesy Wood TV8]

Filed under: Transportation

Vice President Biden announces $2.4 billion in battery-related grants originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

High five, Tesla fans — everyone’s favorite incredibly controversial electric car company has just been granted $465m in loans from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. The bulk of the money will go towards that postponed Model S factory, while the remaining $100m will be used to fund an electric powertrain manufacturing facility that will sell parts like motors and battery packs to other carmakers. Tesla wasn’t the DOE’s only big winner: Nissan received $1.6b (billion!) to build batteries and EVs in Tennessee and Ford received an undisclosed amount to build two upcoming electric cars, but since those companies have largely drama-free upper management that isn’t constantly involved in lawsuits, it feels a little more routine. Still, it’s an exciting time — let’s hope all these tax dollars turn into affordable, convenient electric transportation sooner rather than later.

Update: A “congressional source” has told the AP that Ford’s getting $5.9 billion, so yeah, the Oval’s still the big dog.

Read – Tesla
Read – Ford
Read – Nissan

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla, Ford, Nissan all receive electric car development loans from US government originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

See the leather door panel with near-perfect stitching on that 2010 Ford? It’s not leather, but that’s no surprise, when you can make vinyl fabric and plastics look like leather. The one held up by Ford interior design manager Lon Zaback is actually spray-molded polyurethane: plastic sprayed in multiple steps into a mold, then peeled off when dry. The process is good enough to recreate leather stitching or (this example isn’t on cars) overlay a lifelike zipper and zipper pull onto faux leather.

All of this is what physicist and Ford staff technical specialist Mahendra Dassanayake calls “the  democratization of technology,” or finding ways to match or improve what a Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, or BMW does in its cars for half the cost. For instance, where BMW uses a costlier transflective display to keep its navigation screens from washing out in sunlight on its convertibles, Ford is starting to use a simpler micro reflective layer behind a traditional TFT display. 

Ford recently held a media event in New York and showcased several other
technologies it’s working on that together put a common “Ford DNA”
imprint on Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. More after the jump.