Ford Motor Company is reminding us all why “the right parts matter” in a series of quick videos featuring real Ford engineers. In the latest clip, we get to hear from Levasseur Tellis, Principal Investigator at the Ford Automated Vehicle Research Consortium.
The implicit message of these videos from Ford is essentially that vehicle safety (and in this case, driver-assist) systems can only be assured to work properly if OE parts are used. The vehicle parts aftermarket may be fine enough for basic components (brake pads and rotors, tires, dampers, etc.), but if it’s a complex system like Ford’s Adaptive Cruise Control or Pre-Collision Assist, one sub-par component could jeopardize the operation of the entire system.
Systems which adhere to Level 1 and 2 standards of vehicle automation, as-defined by the US Department of Transportation, are quickly becoming commonplace in new vehicles. Level 1, or “Function-Specific Automation,” is defined as any system which assumes control of one function in some instances; Electronic Stability Control and Emergency Brake Assist are examples. Level 2, “Combined Function Automation,” includes systems which take over two or more functions in tandem, like Adaptive Cruise Control when coupled with Lane-Keep Assist.
The recent, broad proliferation of such systems makes Ford’s message in the above video all the more prudent.
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