Engineers pride themselves in, well, overengineering. In aircraft development, airliners are fatigue tested to sustain stressloads equivalent to more than twice the aircraft's intended design life. Automotive engineering may be slightly more tricky, though, as expected design life greatly varies depending on the vehicle's owner.
In Ford's efforts to build the most durable Transit van ever, the Ford Merkenich development center in Germany subjected the Transit to a series of rigorous tests under the most trying conditions.
Sharing the process on video, Ford engineers create a mechanism that replicated slams traveling at the fastest speeds of 90 percent of Transit owners to impact test the Transit's front door 250,000 times, the sliding side door 150,000 times, and the rear cargo door 150,000 times in extreme conditions ranging from -40 degrees to 180 degrees Fahrenheit at up to 85 percent humidity. In total, the Transit endured over half a million slams in all conditions over a period of months without stop.
Pleased with the Transit van's rugged construction, Ford of Europe chief engineer of Commercial Vehicles Barry Gale said, "This is a modern-day torture test, more than half a million slams, in everything from tropical heat to Arctic cold. After our new vans have been through this, they are ready for anything."
Learn more about the Merkenich development center tests on the Ford Custom Express in the videos below:
