Ford Focus Mk4 gets a new tech feature

KUALA LUMPUR: After equipping the Ford Mondeo with pothole detection technology back in 2016, the American automaker has blessed the capabilities to the new Ford Focus range. Notably, Ford is the only company in the world to equip its models with pothole mitigation technology. The technology helps in reducing the extent of damage caused to different car components like tyres, wheels, and suspension by potholes.

The intelligent sensors are employed to detect the forthcoming potholes and prepare the car’s suspension to brace the impact. After the sensors detect the presence of a pothole, they stiffen up the suspension immediately. As a result, they limit the suspension travel and the wheel does not dip in the hole entirely. This prevents the wheel from hitting the other edge of the hole and a possible harsh impact.

The front sensors send the warning signal to the rear suspension in a split of a second which gets the mechanism to work efficiently at the rear end as well. Ford is said to have tested the technology on some of its cars at Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium where a 2km road was designed using a replica of the world’s worst potholes.

The new detection technology monitors car’s suspension, braking inputs, steering and overall body every two milliseconds, which is incredible, upon which it adjusts damping response and helps in improving the overall ride quality.

Guy Mathot, the Vehicle Dynamics Supervisor of the Ford Focus said, “Our engineers are always searching for the roughest roads to really test our suspension to the limit, but more and more we’re noticing that the rough roads are finding us. Potholes are a problem that isn’t going away anytime soon, but with our advanced suspension technology for the all-new Focus, we’ve been able to reduce their impact.”