01/06/2012 17:10
Ford has gone to great lengths to test the durability of its all-new Transit vans, putting the model through what it has described as "extreme testing".
The Blue Oval said that while children are forever being told not to slam doors, the old adage was thrown out of the window when it came to testing the new Ford Transit Custom.
Ford's engineers slammed the doors of the new model some 550,000 times to ensure that the iconic van can stand up to the everyday wear and tear that even the most-demanding of drivers will put it through.
The front doors were slammed 250,000 times, the sliding side door 150,000 times, and the rear cargo door was also given the treatment 150,000 times.
Ford explained that the test was carried out in a customised testing facility with temperature controls at the firm's Dunton Technical Centre in Essex, which serves as the research and development centre for all Ford vans.
The plant can be set at any temperature from -40 degrees Celcius to 82 degrees Celsius.
Explaining the benefits of the rigorous testing procedure, Barry Gale, Ford's chief commercial vehicle engineer, said: "This is a modern-day torture test, more than half-a-million slams, in everything from tropical heat to Arctic cold."
It is exactly this attention to detail that has seen the Ford Transit van become the most popular vehicle of its kind.
Indeed, the Transit is afforded icon status in the motoring world and one appreciation group recently welcomed its 1,000th member.
Darren Kempton owns two classic examples of the van and was recently named the "millennium member" of the Ford Transit Van Club, which was launched seven years ago.
"It's a great honour. The Transit has been part of my life since I first started driving one in 1996, and now I have bought a second classic model, a 1969 Mk I camper van, as a restoration project," he explained.
Posted by Sebastien Turkenburg