Ford's new Fusion Sport will help mitigate pothole damage
A feature within its active suspension helps eliminate excessive wheel travel when encountering a crater in the asphalt.
When Ford releases its 325-horsepower, 2017 Fusion Sport, it will be Ford's first vehicle to come standard with computer-controlled adaptive suspension. Considering how quickly those computers work, you can convince them to do some interesting things. For example, Ford has programmed its system to cut down on pothole damage.
Adjusting its dampers every 2.0 milliseconds (500 times per second), the system can detect when a front wheel is about to enter a pothole. It will stiffen the suspension briefly to prevent the wheel from sinking all the way into the pothole, which can damage the wheel or tire. It will also set up the rear suspension to act in the same way.
Adaptive suspension has a definite benefit in this regard, but soon, it'll get even better. Once vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies hit the mainstream, you'll know about potholes well in advance of meeting one, because either a vehicle ahead or the local infrastructure will warn you of its presence. Mitigating damage is good, but avoiding it altogether will be even better.
