How Fords are 'Built Ford Tough'

Ford puts drivetrain components of its 4x4 vehicles through the most gruelling tests to make them tough enough for owners driving in the most difficult terrain

'BUILT FORD TOUGH’: It’s something which Ford has proudly emphasized for decades about its products and the definition of “Built Ford Tough” is rooted in a series of grueling tests designed to ensure quality, durability and dependability. Prototypes of models like the latest F-Series pick-up truck – the best-selling vehicle line in the world – logged more than 16 million kms of testing in all kinds of conditions, including nearly 5 million kms of real-world customer durability testing in some of the most extreme conditions possible.
 

From the bitter cold of the Arctic to the blazing heat of the Arizona desert in America, Ford’s real-world testing for all its vehicles covers a variety of demanding procedures conducted in tortuous terrain. It’s complemented by numerous lab-based tests designed to induce more damage than the toughest customer can cause.
 

Here are just a few examples of the wide range of punishing and unconventional tests developed to prove the durability and capability of Ford vehicles:
 

Open-and-Shut Case:  If it’s on a car and it opens and closes, it undergoes rigorous testing at Ford that equates to roughly 10 years of average use. Ford’s Body Testing engineers load test vehicles into a mechanical fixture designed to replicate human use. This machine will lift a rear hatch, open the door, then close it – 84,000 times. The testing cycle can also include rolling the window up and down and locking and unlocking the doors 26,000 times.
 
Decklids are tested to 10,000 cycles, rear doors to 25,000 cycles and bonnets to 1,500. Even the lids for fuel filler caps are tested – opened and closed 3,000 times. Each test is performed in a sealed climactic chamber, with tests run at temperatures varying from -40 degrees C to 82 degrees C. Tests typically last 4-6 weeks, depending on the complexity. If closures don’t meet the tough standards set by Ford, they’re sent back to engineering for improvement.
 

Surviving Silver Creek: Ford’s famed 'Silver Creek test’ was developed in 1977 to simulate an actual off-road trail in Northern Arizona known for its severity. This man-made surface at the company’s Arizona Proving Grounds was constructed to capture the loads and damage for durability testing. Silver Creek combines two extremely rough roads – one section has 15 distinct types of bumps and chuckholes while the other is made from broken concrete pieces in a random matrix. Traveling a mere 600-metre on this course is the equivalent to approximately 33 kms of the original severe off-road surface.
 

Sand Wash: A deep bed of loose sand is used to test steering systems and 4x4 components on Ford vehicles. It is targeted to meet the demands of customers who use their vehicles on construction sites, as well as recreational use on beaches and sand dunes. During each test event, Ford engineers tackle the 20-cm deep sand surface driving about 3.5 kms in a serpentine formation.
 

Taking the Hit: To give drivers a better chance against wheel and tyre damage caused by bad roads conditions, Ford engineers have designed suspension parts to handle chuckholes as effectively as possible. Engineers tune shock rebound rates to keep wheels and tyres suspended so they can glide over potholes instead of dropping down into them. To replicate the most severe conditions a customer might encounter, Ford engineers have devised a durability test consisting of a series of 100-mmh deep square-edge chuckholes with a width of up to 750 mm. A complete test sequence includes approximately 2,700 chuckhole hits for each wheel!
 

A camouflaged prototype being tested on rough terrain in the desert

Deep Freeze: Ford engineers have significantly improved engine cylinder head and head gasket design, thanks in part to a brutal Deep Thermal Shock test conducted at the company’s Engine Laboratory in Michigan. This abusive cold start test runs to failure or for 150 hours – whichever comes first. Vehicles withstand -30 degrees C shock for 300 cycles, going through repeated heating-to-cooling cycles. Meanwhile, engineers at the Automatic Transmission Development Laboratory in Livonia, Mich., freeze vehicle parts to -51 degrees C, then apply maximum torsional loads. This Deep Freeze Torsional Fatigue testing is designed to ensure Ford parts survive deep thermal shock for start-ups in cold weather climates.
 

Wear and Tear: Ford’s Manual Transmission Clutch Wear Test does to a clutch in 30 seconds what it would take a rough driver a full year to accomplish. It was developed to ensure that heat generated by excessive clutch wear would not induce mechanical failure. The test, conducted at the Automatic Transmission Development Laboratory, applies continuous slip to a vehicle’s clutch assembly until all material is disintegrated to ensure against support component failure.
 

Choke Hold:  Imagine your heart beating minus the blood flow; you will suffer severely, if not die. To ensure that the transmission pump can survive momentary fluid loss, Ford engineers put vehicles through a speed, temperature and pressure matrix while draining the oil from the pump (choking). The Pump Performance with Max Durability test has vehicles endure speeds as high as 8,000 rpm with temperatures exceeding 120 degrees C as their pumps are “bled dry.”
 

Curb Island: Engineers subject various prototypes to this test inspired by an actual curb in Southeast Michigan. Curb Island simulates an expressway run-off situation in which a vehicle runs into a curb with an entry height of 125 mm and exit height of 140 mm at approximately 10 degrees. Approaching the curb at speed induces very high impact loads (strength-based loads) while exiting can induce complete rebound of a vehicle suspension.
 

Let’s Do the Twist (Ditch): This lab-based test simulates traversing a deep angled ditch. It’s designed to ensure a vehicle can travel over washouts and across dry river beds. Twist Ditch puts the vehicle in an extreme body twist, inducing torsion by articulating the suspension to support the vehicle weight on only two opposing wheels at a time (left-front/right-rear or right-front/left-rear).
 

A Sticky Situation:  This test is something which shows how Ford engineers think about daily conditions of modern commuting and motoring - like drink containers that tip over and spill their liquids. They have developed a test for console-mounted shifters designed with the messy in mind. Sticky liquid can collect on the sliders – the small pieces of plastic that move as you shift from Park to Drive – making it harder to shift or potentially jamming the shifter altogether.
 

There is a special test to ensure all of its shifters are able to survive a dousing from bubbly, sugary drink. In this test, a fixture suspends a large cup in a small frame supported at 45 degrees over the shifter. The engineer fills the cup with the equivalent of one can of drink, pulls a trigger, and the cup drops and sends fluid all over the shifter. The test is repeated 12 times to make sure the design is capable. The tests have brought about design changes to help route fluid away from the shifter.