With the record-breaking winter in the Boston area, an invitation to travel to Phoenix to check out the technology advances Ford is incorporating in the latest iteration of its Edge crossover SUV was rapidly accepted.

The vehicle typifies the myriad improvements the company and the auto industry in general, can make to add content and improve the driving experience. A day of mountain and desert driving by an Engineering360 contributing editor left positive impressions of the Edge. Most apparent were the adequate power available (280 hp) from the 4-cylinder, 2-L Ecoboost turbo engine (the smallest unit available) and the noticeably quiet ride.

NVH Engineering

Ford engineers' ability to cut cabin noise, vibration and harshness came in advance several years ago with the introduction of the latest Taurus upscale sedan. The use of seals and thicker window glass has spread to the Edge where improved noise containment also includes an all-around engine hood seal. Adding to cabin quiet are underbody panels (that also reduce air drag) and wheelwell liners.

Customers often equate vehicle quietness with quality, so that became a key goal of the design team, says NVH Supervisor Joe Mucha.

"Our engineers had a clean sheet to work with, so significant gains were made in overall body rigidity, which greatly improves NVH, in general." Toward that end, the vehicle has more high-strength steel in its structure, which is 26% stiffer in bending and 14% better in twist than the previous Edge.

In addition, extra sound deadening material was put on the firewall between the engine and cabin. The Sport version has active noise cancellation to electronically manage sound. Three microphones within the cabin detect noise and signal processing generates opposing sound waves through the audio system, mitigating the original undesired sounds. Optional 20-inch tires, which usually increase noise, were designed so that they actually produce a 2 decibel (dB) quieter ride.

Aerodynamics to Manage Drag

While the new Edge is slightly larger than the version it replaces, the net aerodynamic drag was kept the same, says J.D. Shanahan, Edge chief engineer. In addition to the underbody panels, the aero team came up with "air curtains" on the SE version. Mounted on the front fascia ahead of the forward wheel openings, these "smart" ducts create a curtain of air alongside the vehicle for smoother airflow over the front wheels, says Mucha. At the rear along the D Pillar, a vertical strake, or ridge, provides detachment of the air from the side glass. This reduces turbulence behind the vehicle. Other aero tweaks include airfoil-shaped grill sections rather than flat slabs and active grill shutters that lower cooling drag at highway speeds.

Driver Assistance

Perhaps the slickest technology on the Edge is the enhanced parking assist system. This feature has been extended from allowing hands-free parallel parking to the ability to find suitable spaces perpendicular to the curb/street, then permitting the driver to back into the space without steering input.

A test drive showed the system was easy to use—from scanning for parking spots to cues for forward and reverse gear inputs, along with braking, on the center stack screen once a space was selected. The only caveat was resisting the temptation to touch the steering wheel, which stops the procedure.

Other improvements include a Park Out function that reverses the process and directs a driver out of a parallel space, if desired. Such functionality could prove useful if a driver returns to a car to find other parkers have "hemmed" in her vehicle. Engineers also incorporated a 180-degree view camera in the front grill. When perpendicularly backed in between two larger Transit vans that blocked the view up and down the street, the camera was able to see approaching vehicles and pedestrians.

Technology Enablers

Those upgrades to the Enhanced Active Park Assist functionality were made possible by improvements to existing sensors and software.

"Computing power continues to improve, and we now use 12 sensors, up from 10, to map the area along the sides of the car" and enable the perpendicular parking feature, says Jennifer Shaw, a supervising engineer in Ford's Driver Assist technology department.

When asked if the parking assist might be expanded to angled parking spaces, Shaw says that such a capability might not be useful because most instances of angled parking are one-way aisles that are not conducive for backing in. However, for angled space maneuvering, camera technology can be helpful, particularly when backing out, she says. With rear view cameras now mandated, more suppliers are providing them (along with more ideas on how to use them). "Cameras are the new cup holders," Shaw says.

"Ford might not have been the first to introduce semi-autonomous park assist [as well as perpendicular parking and park out], but they are one of the most aggressive in rolling it out across the majority of their model range," says Jeremy Carlson, senior analyst for IHS Automotive Technology.

"Ford's interface is interesting, in particular the 360-degree color bands that show how close an object is, but much of this has been available elsewhere in the industry already," he says. A similar interface is shown with the front-facing camera (whose camera-washing feature is relatively new to market), which can be useful to orient the driver as so many cameras are installed around the perimeter of the vehicle, Carlson says.

Hidden Safety

One technology innovation not readily seen on the Edge is the glove box airbag, or more specifically the glove box door airbag. The door itself appears much like a typical door. But Ford safety engineers sandwiched a pliable, injection-molded plastic bladder and gas inflator between the outer door cover and the inner door surface.

(Watch a video of how the glove box airbag works.)

In the event of a collision, airbag activation fills the bladder and extends the outer door panel to restrain motion of a front passenger's knees and lower legs. The installation saves weight and uses fewer parts than would a traditional woven fabric airbag installation.

The Ford engineering team says they are mindful of the constant design dance that has to be done when considering any vehicle improvements. Tradeoffs, such as balancing weight, noise, and costs, are always top of mind.

To contact the author of this article, email engineering360editors@ihs.com