Buy a black Ford Explorer, drive it at a very precise speed and people are just going to jump out of your way on the highway. Why? Because after Ford introduces the latest visor-mounted light bars on police interceptors, you won't be able to spot them.
The point of installing the lights inside the Ford Explorer is not to make it look like KITT or lower the drag of the car to make it faster. Interceptors are supposed to be nearly impossible to spot unless you know precisely where to look.
“Today, agencies typically use aftermarket interior visor light bars that are somewhat bulky and can obstruct the field of vision – especially for taller officers,” said Stephen Tyler, Ford police marketing manager for North American fleet, lease and remarketing operations. “This extremely low-profile unit is fully integrated where the headliner and top of the windshield meet, for tremendously improved driver visibility versus aftermarket alternatives.”
Since... forever, the roof bar has been the most distinctive feature of the police vehicle. But Ford has transformed that into a thin strip of LEDs between the headliner and the top of the visor.
There are plenty of similar systems already on America's roads, but the one Ford made is more streamlined or “no profile” as they put it. Of course, the black steel wheels and the lights mounted to the mirrors still give this away as a cop car, but only because it's a Ford press car.
In the real world, you may be pulled over by somebody in a lowered Tahoe on custom wheels. The funny thing is that Ford makes the Explorer Sport that also gets all-black trim and tint, so people might think it's a police car as well.
If you think police lights have been getting too bright recently, Ford is thinking of the same thing. The lights can be programmed from full intensity down to 20 percent, and provide auto-dimming capability as well.
In separate but totally cool news, here's a video of the 2017 Ford Police Interceptor being shot at and taking it like a champ thanks to level IV ballistic panels.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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