We like it when GPS is feeding us information, telling us when traffic is causing a problem and indicating when a bridge is out so that we can warm up our voices ahead of all the hootin' and a hollerin' required for our General Lee replica to clear the gap. However, we're not too keen on the All-Seeing Eye aspect of GPS, and that's what we're fearing in Ford's latest research. The company gave a $120,000 grant to the Auburn University's GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory to look into using GPS for accident prevention, and while results won't be unveiled until later this week, descriptions of "an early warning system that detects when a vehicle is about to lose control" and then tweaks vehicle traction and stability control settings based on the speed of the car and the severity of upcoming bends sounds a half-step away from the auto-braking assist in
Gran Turismo. Or, perhaps that's just Ford-speak for an
Aspid-like system for optimizing suspension based on road twistiness. Given that Ford no longer makes a car designed for going around corners quickly, we find that unlikely.
Update: Wes Sherwood from Ford took the time to comment, indicating that "wide-reaching privacy laws prevent the type of monitoring suggested in this post." That's very good to hear. Still no word on when the Mustang will get independent rear suspension, though.
[Via
Carperformance]
posted October 12th 2009 8:16AM
USA's 55mph speed limit was introduced in 1973 by Nixon. Not for reasons of safety, but for reasons of fuel economy during an oil crisis.
If car companies wanted to stop cars from going too fast they could already be doing it, it wouldn't take GPS.
Cars WILL drive themselves someday, ala "Minority Report" or probably more accurately "The Sixth Day".
And honestly, I'd trust a network of computers more than the morons on the road.
Agreed! It is WAY too easy to get a license in this country and there are so many drivers on the road that should NOT be driving. While it is possible that any such automatic speed-limiting system could be abused by the government, it would probably cause less accidents and less death on the road. And when you think about it, speed-limiting and reckless driving recognition systems could actually make roadway travel much faster. Just think about how much traffic is caused by assholes pushing their way in at the front of the line, causing a whole line of traffic to brake and then start again. As much as I like the 'feel' of driving, I would give it up in a second if it meant faster and safer trips on the road. As a perfect example: in Beijing before the subway trains were automated they had to have 5 minutes of separation between trains at each station. Now that they are fully computer controlled the trains can be separated by less than 2 minutes at each station. This means faster travel, more trains, fewer accidents/incidents, less waiting time, and happier passengers. What's not to like about that?
By the way, for the American flag waving rednecks who are thinking to themselves, "you can take my car keys when you pry them from my cold dead fingers", nowhere is it mentioned in the constitution that driving cars is a right of the people. It is a privilege, so get off your high horse and stop making out with your sister.
I agree re: minority report......let's just hope Microsoft/danger has no hand in the infrastructure.
We at Ford stand by the countless independent product reviews that rate our vehicles at or near the top of their respective segments in terms of quality, fuel economy, driving dynamics and safety. The Big Brother concern is more valid. However, wide-reaching privacy laws prevent the type of monitoring suggested in this post.
Most of today’s cars already collect similar data in black boxes primarily for accident investigations. Law enforcement agencies only can access several seconds of data about the status of vehicles just before/during accidents. In many states, the vehicle owner must give permission for the data to be used.
We appreciate the opportunity to respond, and look forward to sharing other innovations with you soon.
Wes Sherwood
Ford Safety Communications Manager
Seriously? Two 1984 references in one day? First Joystiq now this? Lol. Nice guys. Like I said on Joystiq, this is funnier because I'm reading it right now for school.
Just FYI, the Cobra has had IRS for quite a long time, and while you may say that's not a Mustang or even not a Ford, you know as well as I do that it certainly is. Sure it costs a pretty penny, but what are you going to compare it to? Last I checked, the Camaro wasn't exactly a budget wagon.
And while I don't necessarily disagree with you about Ford's continued policy of ignoring the performance crowd in most ways, there are plenty of Ford vehicles without Ford emblems on them that absolutely do have IRS and definitely go around corners quickly. I drive one of those myself. They really just use the Ford name for the mainstream American car, and more interesting designs are sold under other brands. So really it's a branding thing, not a technology or design thing.
Now all that said, I'm pretty sure if they dropped a decent IRS into the 2010 Mustang GT, I'd be looking at making a spot in the garage for one.
I don't know why anyone would say the cobra isn't a mustang or a ford. Thats just idiotic. The cobra only had irs from 99-04. It was garbage. Hence the popularity of solid axle swaps. A properly built 3 link will out handle ford's IRS all day long.
My friend has an '03 Cobra, and the IRS has kept him from decent track times. I still can't figure out how a super-charged V8 doesn't even make over 400 crank horsepower, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
@scrapmaker
Uhh.. buddy... Stock they dyno 370RWHP thats over 400 motor... and with about 10 minutes of tinkering (programmer/pulley... think running windows update for your car) it's at 460rwhp (over 500 flywheel). Emissions standards are why the HP was knocked back so much from the factory. In a car running low compression, forced induction and with the bleh PCV system the car has on it (plus having to be able to survive on silly ecohippie 91 octane in some states) they had to make the tune fat.
Hell... not to sound like a ricer.. but you do realize for less then 4,000 and about 3 hours of work with basic hand tools you can make over 800 crank horsepower on pump gas without ever touching the engine, get 20 mpg and unlike a Supra, have a powerband that makes Gasoline powered trucks look like Josh's prius.
Sorry, I feel pretty strongly on this subject, I don't want to be seen as a fanboi, because I am a very vocal critic of what was wrong with this car (cheap interior, IRS), but when it comes to making power, absolutely nothing could touch the $ to Horsepower value of the 03/04 cobra an the more you modded it, the better it got... Hell the 03/04 and the Shelby are the only 2 cars under 40k I know of that you can make over 800 motor hp with ease on pump gas and completely stock motors lower intake to oil pan.
I'm sorry, Dave, I am afraid I can't let you do that
I think it is a BAD IDEA when cars start making decisions for people, even in the interests of safety. The good intention is to reduce accidents, but in the presence of such technology bad drivers will be conditioned to think that they are good drivers. When GPS reception is poor, that protection is taken away, and they become even more dangerous: expecting the car to stay on the road as it usually does..
I believe that people should learn to control their cars and know their cars' limits. The responsibility of control should rest SOLEY on the driver.
Are you purposely ignoring the fact that between 30,000-35,000 deaths occur as a result of car accidents in the U.S. every year? That's an accurate NHTSA stat. Go to their website and look it up. And the number of injuries per year is in the hundreds of thousands. Clearly having humans controlling multi-thousand pound vehicles is not the right solution. However, up until now it has been the ONLY solution. Now that technology has improved to the point that we can take some of human error (and also willful irresponsibility) out of the equation then that is what we absolutely should do. Then maybe there will be less people who have to answer the door and have a police officer tell them that their son or daughter has been killed in a car accident that could have been avoided.
Come on, this should be cool-news not paranoid-news. The only way "GPS" can be used by big brother is if there is some mechanism to transmit the data back to someone else. You should be a zillion times more worried about the GPS in your phone rather than the one in your car.
If you take even one second to think about how this is working, it is extending ideas like cruise control and ABS. I suspect the doubters here are fine with the braking system detecting that there is no traction under one of the tires. Seems to me that all this does is use the position of the car WRT some map data to help in some things. Even if it is only as much as canceling cruise control when approching a tight turn in your route, it seems to me that it could be very useful.
03 cobra's were underated at 385 horspower. They do make 400 horsepower, its been proven.
Forget the Mustang GT... Get yourself a Focus (Zetec or newer Duratec models) and slap some mods on it. I'm really hoping they bring the European Focus RS over here for 2011.
whats the big deal?
bmw's x5's used to slow down on there own vehicles for years. this is part of stability control. so if ford will use a gps signal oh well who cares. this is good that its coming down to base vehicles. go ford for safety since most ppl are stupid idiots behind a wheel.
also unlike just gps, the cars do use other sensors, lateral and vertical, with wheel speed, eng speed, etc.
this is not something that gps speed goes past a part and the car goes oh we must slow down.
just wait till even cheap cars like ford, gm, honda etc all log engine failures into the key and see you were pushing 10k rpm at 150mph when you blew it up and want warranty work.
I understand the Nissan GTR has a similar system - its GPS system recognizes when you're on a race track, and disables the speed limiter. Which is the same thing as saying "it detects when you're on a public road and limits your speed."
Although I should hope that nobody minds being limited to 111 mph on a public road...
I thought that's why we have cops everywhere?
As an owner of an 03 cobra pushing well over 725 crank hp (pump gas, without the n20) (youtube name: sprayitdown50 that gets 20 mpg with stock idle and administrator of one of the largest ford enthusiast sites in the country (Modularfords.com), I can tell you with a definite and resounding voice, to keep your IRS.
I had nothing but problems with my IRS, part after part.. finally, I found some kid with a Mach 1 that wanted to trade axles... so now.. my 3900lbs 03 cobra convertible has almost 35 runs (most in the mid 10s (10.544@130.21 best so far on pump gas/drag radials). with a stock rear end.. not even so much as a diff cover.
I finally twisted an axle tube, but 100 dollars to straighten and weld them, and good to go!
Sorry, but for the vast majority of people who buy v-8 American cars to drive on the street, Ford's version of the IRS is an impediment. This isn't the Corvette, Viper, Supra Getrag unit, those are awesome. An IRS is only as good as the car it's designed around. Since all mustangs share the same sheetmetal from v-6 to SVT Cobra your only choice for an IRS is one that will bolt into place in existing applications.
It's substantially heavier, more prone to breakage, more expensive to fix, and the fact is, Joe Everyday driver will never have the suspension or the proper tires on his base model V-8 300hp mustang GT to ever push the handling to a threshold where the IRS would offer any benefits over the live axle. That and the slightly greater power consumption and extra weight detracts from MPG.
You gadget journalism is pretty cool, but please... stop talking about automotive topics like you have any idea as to what the hell your talking about.
The market segment that buy's the top tier Mustangs have fought so hard to be rid of that IRS, and we are not going to be stuck with it, because a bunch of snobs from Autoblog that couldn't get a low 11 second z06 out of the 13s want an IRS because it's the cool thing.
IRS Fanboi's are almost as annoying as the 500 moron high school kids a day that throw revs at you in their winged out beat up 240 that they swear up and down is a 9 second skyline after school Friday (or they know someone who's brother has one).