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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Ford Drives Customer Dollar Further

Staff, Wednesday August 17, 2005.

Page 1 of 1

One of the highest priorities for this programme was delivering excellent fuel economy without sacrificing performance or refinement.
- Trevor Worthington, Product and Development Vice President, Ford Australia

Ford Falcon and Territory customers will reap the benefits of a dramatic improvement in fuel economy for all petrol engine versions when the new models go on sale in October.

"Every petrol engine model in the Falcon, Falcon Ute, Fairlane and Territory range has benefited from the changes ? with improvements in some models of more than 11 per cent," said Ford Australia Product and Development Vice President Trevor Worthington.

Worthington said the building blocks for achieving the fuel economy increases were laid with the launch of the BA Falcon in 2002.

"That was a milestone event which saw the introduction of a new, DOHC 24-valve engine with dual phasers that offered significant improvements in performance and refinement.

"Customer feedback about the new engine was fantastic and the new powertrain was a key factor in the BA Falcon recording strong sales and winning numerous industry accolades.

"Importantly for the latest programme, it provided a fantastic base offering room for further improvements."

Worthington said customer research after the launch of BA noted fuel economy and driving range as areas they would appreciate seeing a further improvement.

"I'm sure those customers are going to be delighted with the upgrades we've introduced which will offer significant savings at the fuel pump no matter which model they buy.

"The new BF Falcon and SY Territory range boast a powertrain that not only is the most fuel efficient we've offered, but has been engineered with a no compromise approach offering improvements in performance and refinement.

"Customers will get the best of both worlds ? a powerful, refined engine that offers significant fuel economy savings over its illustrious predecessor."

Tracking down the changes

Ford Australia Powertrain Development Supervisor Ian Cole said his team started the quest for improved fuel economy by identifying a test that best determined real world fuel consumption figures.

A test fleet of BA Falcons was used in a 2400 km drive including slow city, suburban, country, alpine roads, highways and freeways.

"We correlated the data from that drive against three different test methods in the emissions laboratory.

"We compared it to the Australian Design Regulation (ADR) 81/01 fuel economy test which is used to provide the 'sticker figure', which appears on the car in the showroom.

"This lab test focuses on city driving of speeds of 50-60 km/h and highway accelerations from 70 to 95 km/h, over a distance of 11.02 kilometres.

"The second lab test method we compared was the NEDC Euro II/III test, which is a 10.9 kilometre cycle measuring city driving of 40-50 km/h and highway accelerations from 100 km/h, such as when overtaking.

"The third test we used was an internal Ford corporate test cycle totalling 25.4 km, concentrating on city driving of 60 to 65 km/h and highway accelerations from 100 km/h."

Cole said the test lab data showed the internal Ford cycle was the closest to the real world figure they obtained on the 2400 km driving test, and it became the fuel consumption benchmark test.

"The test data reconfirmed we had a very good car in the BA Falcon, but also showed the new car could benefit from new technology available to improve fuel economy."

Cole explained the team then added the benefits of those new technologies with changes to the powertrain including:

• Better engine efficiency through new low friction technology,
• Lower power steering pump load,
• Lower alternator/electrical load, and
• Improved transmission efficiency

"We then set about targeting specific vehicle attributes that could affect fuel economy, reviewing and ranking them and then selecting the changes required to meet an overall programme fuel economy target."

The changes included:

• Certifying all engines to ADR 79/01 (Euro III)
• Adding dual knock sensors
• Reducing engine idle speed
• Adding a pressure transducer to the power steering system
• Increasing the compression ratio from 9.7:1 to 10.3:1
• Changing to a lower viscosity 5W30 engine oil (from 10W30)
• Optimising valve duration via dual independent camshaft timing
• Adding a 'smart' alternator requiring less engine power
• Adding a new fast warm-up transmission oil heat exchanger

• Revised shift strategy for optimised four-speed automatic transmission and reducing torque converter lock-up speed by 230 rpm to 1300 rpm
• Adding the new ZF 6HP26 six-speed automatic transmission to selected vehicles in the range

Fuel economy improvements*

"Falcon and Territory customers opting for the petrol engine will notice the difference every time they fill up their car, with the distance between fill-ups increasing" said Cole.

"Fairmont Ghia customers will be saving more than 11 per cent ? that's more than 13 cents per litre with fuel at 1.20 per litre.

"At the same fuel price, Falcon customers will be saving more than six cents per litre and Territory RWD customers around eight cents per litre.

"Those savings come in tandem with a powertrain offering more performance. It really is a win-win all around," Cole said.

Euro III compliant

All BF Falcon and SY Territory variants will be certified to the new Euro III emissions requirements, which apply to all new model petrol passenger vehicles sold in Australia from January 1, 2006.

Euro III ? or ADR 79/01 ? is a new tailpipe emission level requirement that reduces the amount of emitted hydrocarbons from 0.5 grams per kilometre to 0.2 and oxides of nitrogen from 0.5 g/km to 0.15.

"Under Euro III requirements all new vehicles must meet the new, lower tailpipe emission levels for at least 80,000 kilometres from new," said Cole.

"We achieved these changes through an upgrade to the catalytic converter which is now a split-brick design and by upgrades to the existing software in the Powertrain Control Module (PCM)."

A new condition included in Euro III is a more stringent low ambient temperature tailpipe requirement, which entails testing at a chilly -7 degree Celsius.

It resulted in the construction of a new engine cell at the emissions lab at the Ford Proving Ground to conduct the test.

The new engine cell allowed engineers to factor in harsh environmental tests for the new Falcon and Territory, including an exhaustive 24-hour heat cycle test with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius.

On-board diagnostics

Another major change with the implementation of Euro III is the inclusion of OBD, or On-Board Diagnostics.

OBD is an on-board diagnostic system that constantly monitors the emission control system for any possible change in emission performance.

The emission control system includes the electronic engine management controller and any emission-related component in the exhaust or evaporative system.

If the system monitors any event that results in emissions exceeding the ADR-prescribed OBD thresholds the system 'logs' the event. If a similar event occurs in the same drive, without the engine being turned off, the driver is made aware of the two incidents via an indicator light in the dashboard.

"It provides an indication the owner should take the vehicle to their nearest Ford dealer to have the incident investigated," said Worthington.

"We've devoted countless hours to installing an OBD system that the driver will, in all likelihood, never be aware of.

"Our engineers have mixed and matched new and aged components that make up the OBD system to create worst case scenarios to try to trigger the warning light.

"Since June we've had a number of cars out on the roads accumulating 80,000 kilometres of real world driving in a number of conditions to prove out our engineering work and the results have been very satisfying.

"We've driven different vehicles in areas around the country, ranging from extreme heat to freezing cold and with a variety of ULP and PULP fuels to ensure our system is the very best.

"Our aim was not just to meet the legislated 80,000 km mark, but to engineer a system that works for the life of the vehicle.

"Our no compromise approach to Euro III is another example of the depth of engineering that goes into all Ford product providing real benefits for the customer," Worthington said.

For further information, please contact:
Ford Australia Public Affairs
Phone: 03-9359 8491
Fax: 03-9359 8900

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