The refreshed, 2017 Ford Fusion will continue to offer Ford’s Intelligent All-Wheel Drive system as an option, enabling the mid-size sedan to split torque between the front and rear axles as needed in order to maintain maximum traction in all road conditions.
To demonstrate how effectively the new Ford Fusion‘s Intelligent AWD can overcome the most trying road conditions, the automaker tested it, along with several of its rivals, on a 17 percent traction grade hill. Here, metal rollers are used to simulate the reduction in traction posed by a sheet of ice. A video showing how Ford’s AWD sedan fares against the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Honda CR-V in the test can be seen above.
The 2017 Ford Fusion’s Intelligent AWD works by using a computer to analyze relevant signals – including vehicle speed, wheel speed, throttle position, and steering angle – many times per second to determine whether it should route more torque to one axle or the other.
In this test, all-wheel drive proves essential to passing, with neither the Camry nor the Accord proving able to traverse up the hill. The CR-V – the only other AWD-equipped vehicle in this test – succeeds eventually, but when 300 pounds of weight is added to both it and the Ford Fusion, only the sedan makes it up the grade.
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Will Ford offwe AWD in the Hybrid and Energi models?