New Ford Fiesta evaluated over two million kilometres
When Ford sent us its press release last week announcing its Fiesta Movement campaign, we noticed they were quite insistent in describing the upcoming Ford Fiesta as ‘all-new’ although we know full well that it is closer to being a facelift of the current version.
Having said that, however, the upcoming new Fiesta is not a simple cosmetic nip/tuck job. Prototypes of the new car have clocked a total of 1.2 million kilometres on public roads plus a further 850,000km on test tracks covering various road and weather conditions. In that schedule, the Fiesta was subject to punishing conditions such as cobbles, deep potholes and temperatures ranging from -40 to 82 degrees Celsius.
“A combination of high-tech laboratory simulations, demanding test-track trials and real-world evaluations helps us to deliver a durable new Ford Fiesta which owners can be confident will survive the worst conditions they subject the car to throughout its lifetime,” said David Westerman, regional manager, Asia Pacific, Ford Export & Growth Operations.
Components of the new Fiesta are also individual tested in laboratories where a lifetime of abuse and rough usage are being simulated in time frames measuring in months or weeks. In one test described by Ford, ‘a robotic arm simulated the force of someone applying 36 kilograms of weight through each hand on the bonnet 3,000 times’.
A notable aspect of the new Fiesta’s development programme is Ford’s Voice of Customer Fleet programme, where external drivers of all ages and sizes are recruited to attempt various tasks with prototypes of the car, going through an exhaustive checklist and have their activities recorded by data loggers. One particular test goes as far as asking participants to follow a set of instructions from the owner’s manual.
“We listen to the voice of customers from as early as when the first trial cars are built to ensure that we identify and correct the issues before the car goes into the market,” said Eric Wan, Voice of Customer Fleet programme manager, Ford Asia Pacific.
KON
Pictures: Official Ford release.
