Ford tests to the extremes for customers around the world

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, - In co-operation with a local contractor, two Ford F-150 pick-up trucks and two Lincoln LS’s have started "real life" Middle East road testing cycles typical of vehicle usage in this region.

Overall vehicle and component durability, engine and passenger compartment cooling, fuel feed lines and intake, transmission and brake performance, are included in the vehicles’ systems evaluations. Test vehicles typically accumulate 150,000 miles of continuous driving, over periods of up to two years, and component and overall vehicle performance is measured and logged during every trip.

The Arabian Gulf region -- with one of the harshest climates on earth and a gruelling operating environment for cars and trucks -- is among Ford’s most exacting proving grounds.

In Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, a brew of very high daytime temperatures - 60 degrees Celsius (130 degrees Fahrenheit) and over in the sun are common between mid-June and mid-September - high humidity and sandstorms, makes for a powerful, punishing punch.

In addition, customers in the Middle East are used to driving their vehicles across the desert at sustained high speeds for hours, with a full load of passengers and cargo. Such rigorous operating conditions push vehicles to the limit of their durability and performance.

"Ford customers around the world expect their vehicles to live up to the ‘Built Ford Tough’ promise," said Bob Martin, managing director, Ford Middle East and North Africa. "By testing our cars and trucks in this region, we are able to engineer production models to meet the super-severe conditions of this part of the world, and we are able to provide our customers with the reliability, durability and safety that they expect of their vehicles."

The on-going pilot programme is conducted under Ford’s Global Testing Operations (GTO) supervision, with team involvement from the offices of transmission, engine, climate control and vehicle quality and reliability. This activity has responsibility for all of Ford’s vehicle test facilities and programmes around the world.

Other GTO facilities include cold climate testing in Thompson, Canada, the hot climate and truck test facility in Yucca, Arizona, the Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium and the Michigan Proving Ground near Detroit.

"GTO test programmes such as the one in the Gulf are a practical illustration of Ford’s drive to provide our customers with consistently trouble-free, no excuses product performance, regardless of demanding local conditions," said Ike Iaconelli, engineering director of Global Test Operations.

And he added: "Quality is designed into our vehicles from scratch, but real-life operating conditions vary enormously from region to region. Testing in extreme conditions enables us to design to the highest levels of component endurance, to build vehicles capable of withstanding the Gulf environment and to meet and exceed our customers expectations."