Watch Out For The Hype
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Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Lost Wages
Watch Out For The Hype
Today's Wall Street Journal has an excellent article about the switch-over to electric power steering for the 2011 F-150 trucks.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...beyond+engines
In it they talk about gaining 0.4 mpg with the changeover.
The article also says:
What does this have to do with hype?
Well, when you hear about an air filter, or a CAI, or a chip or whatever, that claims to increase power and/or gas mileage, you have to ask yourself this question:
Why isn't Ford using these performance items to improve MPG, if they are so desperate to do it?
Ford obviously invested tens of millions or more to completely revamp the F-150 steering system for 0.4 MPG, imagine what they would do for a 2-3 MPG gain, as I've seen claimed by some aftermarket stuff on this forum.
Thought you might want to know.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...beyond+engines
In it they talk about gaining 0.4 mpg with the changeover.
The article also says:
That's a big jump forward; Auto engineers are often glad to find tweaks and changes that give them an extra tenth of a mile per gallon.
Well, when you hear about an air filter, or a CAI, or a chip or whatever, that claims to increase power and/or gas mileage, you have to ask yourself this question:
Why isn't Ford using these performance items to improve MPG, if they are so desperate to do it?
Ford obviously invested tens of millions or more to completely revamp the F-150 steering system for 0.4 MPG, imagine what they would do for a 2-3 MPG gain, as I've seen claimed by some aftermarket stuff on this forum.
Thought you might want to know.
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2010
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From: KS
I hear you. I had to laugh when I saw this little gem in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog: http://www.hammacher.com/Product/78387?promo=search
An 18% increase in mileage for only $80... simply be stabilizing the electrical current flowing to the vehicle's computer. Just think, someone is probably going to get rich off of this thing.
An 18% increase in mileage for only $80... simply be stabilizing the electrical current flowing to the vehicle's computer. Just think, someone is probably going to get rich off of this thing.
Devil's advocate
Joined: Apr 2010
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From: Tulsa, OK
I'm sure it will work fine.
My Mother's Saturn Vue had it (looked like a starter underneath the dash) and it was fine. Only thing different is if you went to turning the wheel really fast you could feel it tighten up. Not sure if it did that by design or what but it was no matter.
My Mother's Saturn Vue had it (looked like a starter underneath the dash) and it was fine. Only thing different is if you went to turning the wheel really fast you could feel it tighten up. Not sure if it did that by design or what but it was no matter.
5 Year Member
Joined: Jul 2009
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From: Central NY
Chebby cobalts have issues with the "E-steering" overheating and popping the fuse........Had to laugh when we found out why it happened to a friend's car.
3 points turns in driving lessons for kids evidently weren't in the design specs. Oopsie?
3 points turns in driving lessons for kids evidently weren't in the design specs. Oopsie?
Senior Member
Joined: Jul 2009
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From: NE OHIO
i'm not really a big fan of all the modern electronics in new cars, keep it simple, what i really can't stand is all the new sensors in the new cars, oh hey look theres a car coming and you're backing up, turn you EFFing head and look, its not the hard!
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The movement to fly by wire continues. Right now we are reaping the benefits of independant brake control and wheel speed sensing in the form of stability control. On my Solstice, like the Corvette, the BCM senses individual wheel speed, throttle position, power input and output, steering inputs etc and can determine if the car is sliding or entering a sliding condition. The ESC can then apply the brake on the correct front wheel to bring the car back into a non-sliding state.
The electronic stability control currently does not actually steer the car for you, but once they prove out the accuracy and viability of the electronic steering, it can become yet another input and potentially output for the stability control system. In addition to applying individual brakes and modulating the power output which they currently do, in the not too distant future, they can actually use steering course correction to drive you out of an out of control situation. Couple that with GPS which can know the condition of the road and you have a very good system. It can sense the current dynamic conditions, the control inputs, compare that with the road data it has via on board GPS and through a combination of steering inputs, individual brake modulation, and power modulation make what were formerly a crash going to happen into a non-event.
So do not think of electronic steering as an end in and of itself. It is a step along the path to full fly by wire and stability management vice recovery from a human caused issue. If they know the road conditions, surface, direction etc. then they can actually predict when you are entering a corner too fast for conditions and reduce your speed for you. It will be proactive vice reactive as current ESC systems are.
The electronic stability control currently does not actually steer the car for you, but once they prove out the accuracy and viability of the electronic steering, it can become yet another input and potentially output for the stability control system. In addition to applying individual brakes and modulating the power output which they currently do, in the not too distant future, they can actually use steering course correction to drive you out of an out of control situation. Couple that with GPS which can know the condition of the road and you have a very good system. It can sense the current dynamic conditions, the control inputs, compare that with the road data it has via on board GPS and through a combination of steering inputs, individual brake modulation, and power modulation make what were formerly a crash going to happen into a non-event.
So do not think of electronic steering as an end in and of itself. It is a step along the path to full fly by wire and stability management vice recovery from a human caused issue. If they know the road conditions, surface, direction etc. then they can actually predict when you are entering a corner too fast for conditions and reduce your speed for you. It will be proactive vice reactive as current ESC systems are.
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Censored by the Man
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From: Gorham, Maine
As far as the cai from the factory. I think its a matter of cost to produce. Its cheaper to make 10000o paper filters than 100000 cotton high flow filters. Also as anyone who has them knows they are loud. I like it but a lot of people dont. They do not want to hear anything but there Enya CD inside the cab. jmo
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From: Central NY
As far as the cai from the factory. I think its a matter of cost to produce. Its cheaper to make 10000o paper filters than 100000 cotton high flow filters. Also as anyone who has them knows they are loud. I like it but a lot of people dont. They do not want to hear anything but there Enya CD inside the cab. jmo
NVH is a huge issue for engineers. When they revamped the Ford Contour/Merc Mystique mid-run in 1995, right after they launched it, it was for NVH issues. In the process, they lopped a couple of HP off of the engine to make the intake quieter.