Ford Explorer Terrain Management System Teeter-Totter Demo

Attending this year’s Chicago Auto Show, American manufacturer Ford took the opportunity and demonstrated Explorer’s Intelligent Four-Wheel Drive (4WD) with Terrain Management System with the help of a SUV-sized teeter-totter.

The footprint of the teeter-totter ride experience is approximately 5,000 square feet. The teeter-totter itself is a steel structure 30 feet long and standing four feet tall.

The Explorer is operated by a professional driver and has show-goers as passengers. The demo starts out driving through sand to demonstrate how the car easily handles loose surfaces before beginning to ascend the teeter-totter ramp.

The vehicle drives up the ramp at an angle approaching 22 degrees. “Onboard passengers will be gazing at the ceiling as Explorer continues its steep ascent,” Ford says.

Once at the teeter-totter’s apex, Explorer will begin to descend the ramp. This is where the Terrain Management System’s Hill Descent Control activates to control speed and slippage, simulating the capability, control and driver confidence the all-new Explorer enables when drivers encounter steep downhill grades.

Explorer’s Intelligent 4WD with Terrain Management uses simple icons to help determine the appropriate setting. All a driver needs to do is turn the dial to match the system to actual driving conditions, choosing between snow, sand, mud, hill descent and normal settings. The system then adjusts engine and transmission behavior, shift schedules and braking force.

“Intelligent 4WD with Terrain Management allows the vehicle to deliver the “any road, anytime” capabilities SUV buyers expect, while eliminating weight. Less mass helps the all-new Explorer to deliver up to 30 percent better fuel economy than the previous model,” a company statement reads.