it's nothing new really for us here in
Michigan potholes are a really big
problem in fact triple-a responds to
four million calls for flat tires every
single year some of the best of the best
right there and the fluctuating
temperatures only open up more potholes
as we found out but there's new
technology out there that controls the
damage if you hit one of these monsters
that you see there our pothole
correspondent Hank Winchester joins us
and hey you got a chance to drive this
through technology right we did and it's
really incredible Sandra Jason good
evening to both of you right now we are
rolling in Midtown in Detroit we're in a
station vehicle a Dodge minivan and take
a look it's no shock the roads here in
Michigan well they've definitely seen
better days
cracks potholes all over the place it's
hard to avoid them and when you're
driving in this vehicle boy you feel
every bump in the road this Ford
technology though it is a game changer
and essentially what it's trying to do
is soften the blow when you come across
a problem pothole you can feel it but
you can't see it what it does is it
allows us to lower the bass damping
levels so the vehicle rolls over things
more smoothly right now I'm with the
team at for test driving the new Ford
Expedition that has this technology what
it does is minimize the possible damage
when we hit a pothole in a moment you'll
see how it works
pothole problems no secret to
Michiganders and the governor wants to
hear about it take a picture of your
damaged car or your repair bill or the
pothole outside your house and post it
with the hashtag FTD our and I think you
know what that stands for consumers
spend an average of 3 billion every year
on pothole repairs most spending about
$300 each time and in Michigan we know
all about it our roads ranked some of
the worst in the nation we've heard the
stories just like this one from a driver
who encountered that pothole mess on 75
I started feeling well pumping in my car
doing this it's a four wheel drive so I
had to do all four tires
it's the continuously controlled damping
system CCD for short on-board computers
analyze signals from
twelve sensors and adjust the vehicle
stiffness settings when a pothole is
detected bottom line it makes the ride
smoother we enhance the ride so that
when you're rolling over the cracks in
the road you're rolling over bumps those
types of things it's less disturbing to
the customer as we roll you can see us
hitting various cracks holes problem
areas on the roadway it feels like it's
hugging the road more does that make
sense yeah this vehicle the CCD system
controls each corner independently so no
matter which tire makes contact with the
pothole it balances out the entire
vehicle I Drive an SUV that doesn't have
this technology and I can feel the
difference watch alright so visually I
saw that there were some holes in the
road there but I didn't feel them as
much driving over them with this
technology you know part of that is
going to be the fact that we've lowered
the base damping levels and tried to
give the customer a true pleasant ride
and part of it is the control of the
vehicle
this technology is standard in many Ford
models but not all you can't really add
it to a current ride it's easier when
it's bundled in with other upgrades
during purchase the idea here give the
customer a smoother ride you'll notice
it but it's hidden technology doing all
the work preventing you from
experiencing major damage when those
problem potholes pop out of nowhere
we're back here live cruising in Midtown
News Center area here in Detroit and I
know a lot of you just watching this
story think wow that's really cool I
want that in my vehicle my Ford vehicle
how does that work well it unfortunately
really doesn't you have to purchase it
with the vehicle and as we mentioned
this story it's typically part of a
package where you've got other upgraded
features but forward very proud of the
technology and I'll tell you what we
could definitely feel a big difference
we're live here in Detroit tonight Hank
Winchester back to you so Hank it is
available if we wanted to get it right
now well you'd have to purchase yes
you'd have to purchase a vehicle where
it's already a standard feature that's
like the expedition the excursion the
Lincoln products have that as a standard
upgrade in fact we're going to put all
the information regarding
the Ford products available with this
technology on the help me Hank page at
clickondetroit.com Jason back to you
alright Hank we appreciate it