Jason Michener is the man from Ford who is working hard to save you and your car from potholes. Jason is one of the Ford’s engineers behind Ford’s newest technology that helps your car’s suspension recognize and adapt potholes. Potholes ruin people’s days, weeks, rims, tires and backs, but Jason and his team at Ford have now put a new cutting edge technology into the Ford Fusion that will make most potholes tolerable, if not enjoyable.
The system depends on three different sensor groups (12 sensors in total) to monitor the car’s movement at all times, reacting to driver input, suspension input and position on the road. Each wheel is monitored individually, and can react to a mid-corner bump, or turn.
So why is this technology coming out now? Well it comes down to computing power, a typical pothole event occurs over 50 milliseconds. The car can react to a pothole in 2 milliseconds.
The systems are all working together to make the experience seamless. When the sensors detect a pothole in the ground, it sends an electrical signal to the shock absorber telling it to stay compressed. So when you go over a pothole your wheel will not go into the pothole, it will “float” over the hole. Right Foot Down hopes this is integrated into all Ford vehicles.
The system is always working, at every speed, but the way the system reacts to a pothole is speed dependent. If you drive the Ford Fusion back to back with a Toyota Camry, you will notice a huge difference.
This technology is new for Ford models, but it has been in most Lincoln models since 2012. This is the first time this suspension technology will be available on a main stream Ford product (Fusion Sport V6 AWD)– you won’t find any pothole mitigation in a Honda Accord. Nor will you find an all-wheel-drive system and a 2.7-liter V6 twin-turbo engine making 325 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque.
Potholes can cause serious damage to cars, think about the amount of force that travels through your car’s wheel, tire and suspension when you run over a pothole– just ask anyone who’s ever driven on a DC road after a snowstorm.
So who is this Jason guy? Well he has been with Ford for 13 years, and it was his first job out college. He had wanted to work at Ford since he went to his first monster truck rally with his dad. Jason coincidentally, started with trucks and eventually worked his way over to cars. Jason’s in charge of tuning the suspension technology. He has sacrificed countless “back breaking” hours driving over thousands of potholes at Ford’s proving grounds. Thank you for your commitment Jason.
What’s RFDs favorite part about Jason? He autocrosses a 2012 Mustang. “Track” on Jason.