DailyTech - Ford Exec Dishes Details on 2013 Escape's New Hands-Free Liftgate

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Auto Ford Exec Dishes Details on 2013 Escape's New Hands-Free Liftgate
Jason Mick (Blog) - May 26, 2012 7:49 PM

39 comment(s) - last by StanO360.. on May 30 at 1:54 PM

Weeding out unwanted open events is a complex task, but Ford's system aims for zero errors

Ford Motor Comp. (F) has been kind enough to describe a number of the high tech innovations they are packing into their vehicles with us in pass pieces. From SYNC and MyFord Touch, to switching to all-light-emitting-diode (LED) lit interiors Ford is a mainstream automaker leader in infotainment and other non-drivetrain features (though Ford has plenty of drivetrain innovations, as well).

One of the latest additions to the technology packed Ford Escape compact SUV is a hands-free liftsgate technology, which lands in the 2013 model year vehicles. Activated by bumping or moving your leg into proximity of the rear bumper. That might sound a bit dangerous in terms of undesired liftgate open events, but the system is smart enough to associate your high tech key dongle's signal with events, in order to weed out undesired inputs, such as a basketball or pet hitting the bumper.

Ford has a video demo up here:

Additionally we caught up with Uwe Zank, a Ford body/security module supervisor. The following is our conversation:

Jason Mick; DailyTech:
What kind of sensors are used by the part of the system that senses the interaction?

Uwe Zank; Ford Motor Company:
The system utilizes capacity sensors (with two wires per unit) in order to engage the system.

JM@DT:
What regions of the bumper can the user bump/kick to open it?

UZ@FMC:
Users simply need to kick within two feet of the center of the bumper, in conjunction with detection of the key fob, to initiate the feature.

JM@DT:
What gave you the idea for this unique feature?

UZ@FMC:
Ford is always looking to make the lives of drivers easier. Once we realized the convenience of such a feature, we searched for a supplier to partner with, eventually joining forces with system supplier Brose.

JM@DT:
Does Ford own (or has Ford filed) patents on this technology?

UZ@FMC:
We do no currently own or have filed for a patent on the liftgate feature.

JM@DT:
For 2013, this is an Escape exclusive, correct?

UZ@FMC:
Yes, the liftgate feature is currently exclusive to the 2013 Ford Escape.

_{The 2013 Ford Escape [Image Source: Ford]}

JM@DT:
Will it be an add-on option, or a standard feature?

UZ@FMC:
The feature is standard with our Titanium trim level, but is an option for other trim levels as well.

JM@DT:
Are there plans to bring this feature to other vehicles for future model years?

UZ@FMC:
Yes, Ford is in the process of determining what additional models should be equipped with the liftgate technology.

JM@DT:
Do you think it would be more difficult to implement this feature on a sedan?

UZ@FMC:
Given the technology used, it would not more difficult to implement this feature with sedan model vehicles.

_{DailyTech would likely to thank Ford Motor Company, its PR team, and Mr. Zank for setting up and participating in this interview on this high tech addition.}

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Meanwhile at Ford...

By spread on 5/26/2012 11:28:03 PM , Rating: 3

Bob: We need more electronics in this car. The ones we have aren't expensive, unreliable and heavy enough.

Gary: Why don't we just make the car simpler, reliable and of higher quality materials?

Comittee: Good idea Bob. You done it again! Gary, you're fired.

RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By FITCamaro on 5/27/2012 9:56:27 AM , Rating: 1

Ford today isn't the Ford of the 90s or even early 2000s.

That said, I have zero interest in a feature like this.

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By mindless1 on 5/27/2012 12:03:29 PM , Rating: 1

Sad but true, automakers have no interest in building a vehicle that holds up well over a decade, instead we get nonsense like "permanently lubricated" ball joints... because adding the nipples would raise the price 20 cents and the weight by 10 grams.

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By ZmaxDP on 5/27/12, Rating: 0

RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By sprockkets on 5/27/2012 8:55:28 PM , Rating: 2

Simpler is always better. But you have morons in the gov who want more MPG and don't care about the costs of it. Same thing happened over the past 12 years in the a/c industry - they tried to make them more efficient only to have people pay thousands in repairs for leaky evaporator coils since they had to be made so thin. Ended up saving nothing in the end.

I'm all for more efficient stuff. I mean, today's cars pollute less in an hour of operation than old cars did just sitting there. But let's be balanced here.

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By vol7ron on 5/28/2012 5:54:32 AM , Rating: 2

Right. Auto-manufacturers should just bundle a motorcycle with a new car purchase, instead of adding in-dash GPS units :) I'm halfway serious because you motorcycles are much more efficient and most people hardly use all the car they have all the time. Why spend time trying to research new technology, when we aren't even efficient at using/purchasing the technology that is both affordable and available?

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By Gungel on 5/28/2012 7:52:24 AM , Rating: 2

Only more efficient when transporting one person. If you need a motorcycle for every member in your family it would be to opposite of efficient.

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By nolisi on 5/29/2012 11:30:53 AM , Rating: 2

Gary probably also thought a phone that just rang with analogue buttons with an old school LCD was a good idea.

Based on your post I can only assume you're using one of these:
http://tinyurl.com/cmwkx7b

Oh yeah, Sync was a flop too...

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RE: Meanwhile at Ford...

By StanO360 on 5/30/2012 1:50:09 PM , Rating: 2

And where did these magical cars exist? I remember simple cars . . . that needed carburetors rebuilt, tune-ups every 10k miles, lasted 100k miles. Points,condensers, distributors etc.

The worst cars give you 150k miles now, with on 10th of the trouble of simple cars. What do you want a Trabant?

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PREPARE TO BE SUED, FORD

By MadMan007 on 5/27/2012 2:29:14 PM , Rating: 3

Big mistake here:

quote:
UZ@FMC: We do no currently own or have filed for a patent on the liftgate feature.

Apple has read this and already filed a patent for 'touch interface liftgate for 'mobile' applications', their lawyers will be contacting Ford shortly.

RE: PREPARE TO BE SUED, FORD

By amanojaku on 5/28/2012 3:28:29 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Activated by bumping or moving your leg into proximity of the rear bumper.

Indeed, this does sound like "swipe to unlock". Ford are doomed.

/a la Tony

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RE: PREPARE TO BE SUED, FORD

By nolisi on 5/29/2012 11:34:11 AM , Rating: 2

Tony will then claim that Ford should stop copying Apple and come up with their own innovations.

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Ford tech

By Richard875yh5 on 5/29/2012 11:43:48 AM , Rating: 1

Ford is taking huge risks with technologies that has not proven itself. For example, take what they call, Ecoboost which is actually DI/turbocharger, could actually bite them hard with recalls in the future. There's a problem with this kind of setup. VW and GM were using this technology 3 years before Ford, but never gave it a name, and held back from going big on this for that reason. Ford claims to have solved that problem, but some say it has not.

RE: Ford tech

By Richard875yh5 on 5/29/2012 11:47:47 AM , Rating: 2

I forgot to mention what the Ecoboost problem is. It's with carbon build-up.

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RE: Ford tech

By StanO360 on 5/30/2012 1:44:43 PM , Rating: 2

If they were using the same tech why weren't they getting the same results for mpg:hp?

That being said, you may be right. Though I have heard that the turbos of yesteryear are a lot different. Mazda's approach of using race car compression ratios seems slightly riskier.

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Nice advertising DT

By DukeN on 5/28/2012 10:29:45 AM , Rating: 2

What's next - you're gonna show us keyless entry that Ford has come up with?

Lots of auto/power liftgate combos have been available for a while.

RE: Nice advertising DT

By StanO360 on 5/30/2012 1:46:54 PM , Rating: 2

This is hands free, who else uses this? Not a power button, but you walk up with arms full of kids or groceries and you wave your foot and the back opens. Not complicated or new really, just a different gathering of technology.

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Wrong info

By jeffbui on 5/27/2012 11:57:39 AM , Rating: 2

BMW has this on their 3 series sedan for sure. I'm not sure about their more expensive cars.

Not too useful.

By cyberguyz on 5/27/2012 8:08:03 PM , Rating: 1

Let me get this straight.

You walk near the back bumper with the dongle in your pocket in your pocket (proximity sensor) or bump into it and the liftgate opens? What if I am changing the validation sticker on my license plate? Or washing the back of the car? I have to leave my dongle hanging elsewhere?

Sounds pretty lame and inconvenient to me to cater to the 10% of the time when I can't get a finger on the liftback button on my dongle.

I can open my liftgate with a button on my Venza's dongle from 40 ft away - long before I load my hands up with stuff to load into it. OK, I have to push the button, but it is much more usable for me because the liftgate opens ONLY when I want it to. By the time I walk that 40 ft the car with my shopping cart, it is already fully open and ready for me to load. I really don't need it randomly opening on me because I am near the back of the car of touching the bumper.

This sounds more like technology for technology's sake rather than being a truly useful option that is used 90% of the time.

Nice

By Totally on 5/26/12, Rating: -1

RE: Nice

By Jedi2155 on 5/26/2012 8:55:01 PM , Rating: 3

I find it very attractive, much more so than the Previous escape models. I love how it looks lot more sleek/curves and less boxy.

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RE: Nice

By Totally on 5/26/2012 9:23:19 PM , Rating: 1

To me it's just looks like a mutated ford focus, the look looks great on that car, but with the escape they should've have continued the design ethos used on the larger SUVs, where it looked like a smaller explorer.

Just go to for website, mouse over to SUV/CROSSOVERS and it can clearly be seen as the ugly duckling of the bunch, IMO.

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RE: Nice

By GulWestfale on 5/26/12, Rating: 0

RE: Nice

By Samus on 5/27/2012 4:29:46 AM , Rating: 4

It's a huge deal when Ford is giving you Audi features for half the cost.

And I don't think anybody is going to argue with me on this...European Focus has always been more attractive looking than the Golf. Considering how many hundreds of awards the Focus has won compared to the Golf since its introduction in 1998, I don't think I'm alone on this. The SVT Focus and European Focus ST are still two of the best looking hatchbacks that ever made it to production. Again, with VW features and superior reliability, for less.

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RE: Nice

By FITCamaro on 5/27/2012 9:58:24 AM , Rating: 3

My thoughts exactly. Ford providing luxury car features at a much lower price is a good thing.

Doesn't mean I want the feature though.

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RE: Nice

By Jedi2155 on 5/28/2012 3:08:22 AM , Rating: 2

To each their own, the main thing is that we as consumers have the option for it if we should choose to want it.

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RE: Nice

By vol7ron on 5/28/2012 5:43:54 AM , Rating: 1

I'd like the feature better if it wasn't always on. By the video, it seems like if you have your key remote in your pocket, the "feature" is activated. I'd rather have a button to turn it on/off on the key remote.

That way, if I'm in the store or going on a long trip and know I'll have my hands full when loading the car, I can turn it on; otherwise I'd keep it off and not worry about possible accidents.

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RE: Nice

By vol7ron on 5/28/2012 5:43:54 AM , Rating: 1

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RE: Nice

By messele on 5/29/2012 2:09:48 AM , Rating: 2

You mean we can now have ropey electrics in a car half the price of its poorly designed German counterpart? Where's my damn penny jar!

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RE: Nice

By Xplorer4x4 on 5/27/2012 5:07:47 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
with the escape they should've have continued the design ethos used on the larger SUVs, where it looked like a smaller explorer.

Normally I would agree with you. However, the newly redesigned Explorers don't look much better. The Explorer used to took it's design from the Ranger, and then the escape was a scaled down version of the Explorer. That design philosophy worked great for over 2 decades(Explorer debuted as a 1991 Model if memory serves me right), and I would guess this is the reason Ford is finally switching things up.

Ford, what's wrong with a SUV looking like an SUV/Truck? What's wrong with it looking like a Ranger?

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RE: Nice

By mindless1 on 5/27/2012 12:05:59 PM , Rating: 2

They are targeting it to women who use it to haul family and groceries around and these days, it probably is the case that more women drive SUVs than men, particularly newer ones while men who drive one may hold onto it for longer and DIY repairs to make it cost effective to do so.

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RE: Nice

By drycrust3 on 5/27/2012 1:01:39 AM , Rating: 2

I think the aerodynamics on the Ford vehicles look better than on most other vehicles.

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RE: Nice

By nolisi on 5/29/2012 11:42:24 AM , Rating: 2

Personally, I prefer my Escape's current more chiseled look. If I wanted this, I would have bought a RAV4.

I think the grille/light signature bothers me the most. The grille looks like it was ripped off of a Mazda (not a fan of their designs much anymore because of this) and the light signature looks like a bastardized version of a late 90's Taurus. totally uninspired.

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RE: Nice

By StanO360 on 5/30/2012 1:54:16 PM , Rating: 2

You are not alone, I like the new one, but don't mind the old. This is controversial because it has been the best selling small SUV. I guess Ford doesn't want to stand pat because they got burned by doing that in the past.

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RE: Nice

By Slash3 on 5/26/2012 10:41:07 PM , Rating: 2

It's essentially a ported over european Ford Kuga, but the point stands. It's not handsome. Also, the last preview I read for this car had an amusing comment about the automatic liftgate lifting itself quite happily and automatically into a parking garage beam, denting the vehicle. Smooth.

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RE: Nice

By kilkennycat on 5/26/2012 11:06:57 PM , Rating: 2

Yet another step towards the day when a car heads for the scrap-heap because obsolescence of the electronic components makes it impossible or too expensive to fix.

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RE: Nice

By mindless1 on 5/27/2012 12:00:46 PM , Rating: 2

We're already there. My friend's GM had it's anti-theft circuit go out and the dealership wants more than the book value of the car (with it not working) to fix it... car won't even start right now.

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Its stilll...

By 1ceTr0n on 5/27/12, Rating: -1

RE: Its stilll...

By messele on 5/29/2012 2:18:32 AM , Rating: 1

To be fair, since they started to be designed in countries where petrol prices are more of a concern than getting your cousin into bed, things have come on a long way.

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