Lane Keeping System Debuts in 2013 Ford Fusion

In just a couple of weeks, the 2013 Ford Fusion will make its debut at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, and that means we’ll get our first look at a lot of the really sweet technology packed into one of our favorite models. On the outside chance that you can’t actually make it to Las Vegas for an indulgent four-day trip to play with gadgets and toys all day long, we’re here to fill you in on some of the tech you can expect to see in the ’13 Fusion.

Other than some upgrades to the library of SYNC AppLink smartphone-compatible apps and some cloud data storage stuff, the technology we’re most excited to be debuting is the Lane Keeping System, which we believe is going to be one of the biggest life-saving advancements of the last 10-15 years.

The way it works is really simple; a windshield-mounted camera watches your car’s location in relation to markings on the road to make sure you don’t drift out of your lane, either into a ditch or into oncoming traffic. With tired and/or texting drivers becoming bigger and bigger problems, this is a system that will help keep people from making huge mistakes behind the wheel of the vehicle, and we love it.

When activated, a little logo will flash green on your console, and should you drift a bit out your lane, the light will turn yellow and you’ll get a slight rumble from your steering wheel. If you miss or disregard that warning, the light turns red and the car will actually do some course correcting to steer you gently back into your lane.

It’s going to change the automotive world, folks, and you’ll get your first look at it in Las Vegas at the CES in just a few weeks. Keep checking the blog for more details!

Ford Focus Electric Adds Another EV Option

Earlier in 2011, two automakers released plug-in electric vehicles to varying reviews. The Nissan LEAF has generally been considered to be the more successful EV (the Chevy Volt has not been received particularly well, especially amid consumer claims of small fires caused during the charging process), but we are happy to say that Ford has joined in the game with the Focus Electric, and it can do things even the LEAF can’t do.

In short, we won’t be surprised if this little guy ends up the winner in the EV wars before long.

In general, the benefits of an all-electric vehicle are pretty obvious; they boast a smooth, nearly-silent ride, and the per-gallon cost is lower than any gas or hybrid car on the market. They are also way better for the environment (no emissions!), and are as efficient as modern automobiles come.

Owning a Focus Electric specifically has a few added bonuses, including a higher on-board charger (6.6 kW) than the LEAF, meaning it charges about twice as fast. The battery pack is also quite a bit different in the way it’s maintained, as it includes active liquid cooling and heating for stable operation over a wider range of temperature swings. Finally, the gauge cluster and center stack are able to be personalized more than other plug-in vehicles, and that’s something that matters to a ton to consumers in today’s world.

Charging stations can be purchased at Best Buys across the nation for just a shade under $1,500, which means these stations are more readily available and less expensive than those of competitors, and to top it all off you’re getting the awesome infotainment options provided by SYNC and the terrific consumer experience Ford has always provided its loyal customers.

When it comes to buying an EV, the choices are sure to grow by leaps in bounds over the course of the next few years, but for now there simply isn’t a better choice than the Ford Focus Electric.

Showing Love for Ford's Head-to-Head Comparison Tool

If there was some sort of election for president of pickup trucks, we’re pretty sure that the Ford F-150 would win it. Since it is the best-selling pickup truck in the world, that sort of counts as it getting the most votes, especially if they’re votes people are willing to pay several thousand dollars for. But beyond that, it really is the best candidate in terms of performance, fuel efficiency, etc.

We suppose you’re going to want us to prove that. Happy to. Check out the Ford head-to-head truck comparison tool, and you’ll get our point pretty quickly.
It’s a pretty cool little website, actually. You just enter in a few pieces of information about how you plan to use your truck—payload, towing… that sort of thing—and then the tool tells you which of the four F-150 engines would best fit your needs. After you’ve selected an engine, the tool throws that information up against three of the most popular competitors in the industry so you can decide for yourself if this really is the vehicle you’d like to roll with.

The other trucks, which include the Chevy Silverado, Dodge Ram 1500, and Toyota Tundra, are perfectly respectable pieces of machinery, but the information in the comparison tool makes it pretty clear that the various F-150’s are the best trucks of the batch. And this isn’t skewed information; all the data comes directly from the Kelley Blue Book.

At the end of the experience, you’ll have played with a pretty fun online tool en route to finding the best vehicle for your money. That best vehicle is, of course, the F-150, the unofficial president-elect of the United States of Pickups. All hail the chief.

Badges Link Facebook With Ford Social

We’ve officially come to the point in American history where it’s more surprising to find out a person does not have a Facebook and/or Twitter account than to find out that they do have one. The technological and social phenomenon has become truly ubiquitous the last half decade, and at this point there literally isn’t any respectable business or entertainment entity that doesn’t offer some sort of connection to both of the world’s largest social networking sites.

The trick always has been finding unique and fun ways for users to get the most out of their Facebook and Twitter experiences, but Ford Social seems to have come up with something pretty fun for Ford fans (and Facebook users) of all ages—virtual merit badges.

It’s super easy—all you have to do is head over to Ford Social and peruse the selection of badges, which can be awarded for anything from driving an eco-friendly Ford to showing support for breast cancer awareness programs like Warriors in Pink. There exists a badge for darn near every facet of the Ford corporation on that website, and you guys are all welcome to collect as many of them as you wish.

When you’re done, Facebook and Twitter invite you to post your selections with them, so all of your friends and followers can see what badges you’ve most recently earned. It’s a really fun way to show your love for the Ford brand, and it doesn’t cost you anything to play around with the badge system. Hopefully, before it’s all said and done, Ford Social’s badge idea will become almost as popular as Facebook itself. We know better, of course, but one can dream, can’t one?

SYNC AppLink Adds Slacker Radio Support

Pandora is an awesome service. We know this largely due to the fact that Pandora has gotten tons and tons of press the last few years for being an awesome service. But here’s the reality, folks—Pandora isn’t the only internet streaming music service out there, and now, it’s not even the only internet streaming music service supported by our SYNC AppLink service.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to introduce you to Slacker Radio, probably the biggest competitor to Pandora that exists right now. Load up either app on your smartphone, hook it up to AppLink, and the music shall start flowing like water in a stream. Or a torrential river, depending on your taste.

So what separates Slacker from Pandora? Well, Pandora puts together custom stations based on your favorite artists, but it also sprinkles in some other new artists as well. Slacker actually allows you to listen only to that one favorite artist if you want. They also offer talk radio options, the ability to block artists you loathe, and over 150 preset stations. Put simply, it’s a more customizable version of Pandora.

But that’s not to say Pandora doesn’t have its perks, too. We’re not trying to get you to choose, here, just letting you know that plenty of options exist. Pandora is awesome, yes. We knew that, but Slacker is awesome, too. Either way, you’re getting loads of great music with limited commercials, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the most awesome thing of all.

Ford makes cars that are safe. They also make cars that look good, cars with loads of technology, and cars that can play music better than most home stereo systems. But in the beginning, none of these things were what serious gearheads were most concerned with. No, in the early days of the automobile, serious car fans really only wanted one thing—to go fast.

That’s why it’s nice to see that Ford occasionally puts aside the amazing work done in the areas of safety, appearance, and infotainment to focus on another aspect of their vehicles that really is important. Enter the 2013 Ford Cobra Jet Mustang, another in the long line of drag racing beasts that have made Ford one of the scarier names in the world of the NHRA.

Since 1968, this vehicle has been wreaking havoc on race tracks, and in fact the predecessors to the ’13 CJ have been wildly successful on the NHRA national circuit, winning the main event in each of the last three years.

It’s a very limited (only 50 made worldwide) and very expensive vehicle (the pricier version tops out at $93,000), but performance cars like this aren’t something that every mortal driver should own. Only the trained professionals can really get the most out of a racer like this one, and while we know most of our readers are by no means that, it’s still fun to check this beast of a vehicle out and provide some fodder for our dreams.

Ford Gets Creative with Cake at DC Week

The way most of us were raised to interpret the phrase, “Let them eat cake,” was as something condescending and insulting. But if we tweak that to read, “Let them tweet cake,” and we’re looking at a whole different set of connotations.

Ford, combined with Twitter and Charm City Cakes, set out to let patrons at this year’s DC Week do exactly that—tweet cake—and it was certainly something that turned heads at the festival celebrating innovation for future media. But how would one tweet said cake? All festival-goers had to do was type anything along with the hashtag #FordTweetingCake, and they ended up watching a delicious scale model of a 2012 Ford Focus read it out loud in front of hundreds of other party-goers.

There was a secret compartment in the base of the cake, which harbored speakers and a laptop using voice-to-text software to read all the tweets out loud. Meanwhile the cake, put together by the entertaining stars of Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes,” looked exactly like a little Focus, right down to the working headlights.

We imagine the “future media” gurus at this conference ate the social media stunt up like it was, well… cake. We certainly enjoyed the promotion, and we didn’t even get to see if the dessert was any good. Though, from what we understand, Charm City Cakes makes a delicious Ford.

Here’s a video of the cake being made and put to work at DC Week. Bon Appetit!