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Pothole Mitigation Technology Arrives This Summer on the Ford Fusion V6 Sport

The Ford Fusion isn’t an interesting car. It’s a mid-size sedan as commonplace as burgers and fries. Ford Motor Company decided to change that with the 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport thanks to a feature that protects your car and your wallet from the potholes in the road.
Pothole Mitigation Technology demonstration 11 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
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People who drive crossovers and SUVs haven’t got that much of a problem with potholes, but cars with lower ground clearance have. The solution to craters in the road comes from Ford and is currently labeled as pothole mitigation technology. The continuously controlled dampers of the high-performance Fusion V6 Sport is complemented by this technology. How does it protect you from hitting a pothole?

Computers that control 12 sensors analyze the road ahead of the 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport, adjusting the dampers every two milliseconds. Faster than the blink of an eye, this feature stiffens the dampers when the edge of a pothole is detected so that the wheel doesn’t fall as far into the pothole. Therefore, the wheel doesn’t strike the bottom of the pothole as harshly as a car without this system does. And yes, the rear dampers mirror what the front dampers do.

“We tested and tuned this system by driving over countless potholes - subjecting Fusion V6 Sport to the brutal, square-edged potholes of our Romeo Proving Grounds to finesse the software,” commented Jason Michener, Ford continuously controlled damping engineering expert. “It was long hours of not very pleasant work, but the results are well worth it.” Proof can be found in the video demonstration featured below.

Slated to hit U.S. dealerships this summer, the 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport is animated by a twin-turbo 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 with 325 horsepower and 350 lb-ft (474 Nm) of torque. Not only does it outgun the V6-powered Toyota Camry and Honda Accord but it also comes as standard with a performance-oriented all-wheel-drive system. The price for the most powerful Fusion available is $34,350 sans delivery.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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