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Ford switching to aluminum lift gates from steel on redisigned SUVs - News - Ford Motor Co. increases aluminum content in Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included
Al WrigleyDETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. for the first time plans to put lift gates made of aluminum instead of steel on its redesigned standard-size 2003 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
Ford will fabricate the lift gates using sheet metal from Alcan Aluminium Ltd., Montreal. The automaker's engineers said the light-alloy assemblies--alloys 6111 and 5182 in the outer and inner panels, respectively--will be easier to open and close than the lift gates on the 2002 Expedition/Navigator models, and will help meet weight targets for the redesigned vehicles.
The sheet panel applications represent another step in the unfolding relationship between Ford and Alcan that became especially solid two years ago when they signed a multi-year aluminum supply pact. For the Canada-based aluminum producer, that agreement represented the assurance of a significant amount of new business. For Ford, the agreement enables the automaker to more accurately predict the cost of its additional year-to-year aluminum requirements.
Ford also has decided to use cast aluminum lower front-suspension control arms, as well as upper and lower rear-suspension control arms, in the new SUVs, replacing steel and iron arms used in the 2002 models. In addition, the company plans to put aluminum steering knuckles in the SUVs for the first time.
The new applications will help boost the total aluminum content in the average new standard-size Ford SUV for 2003 well beyond the estimated 340-pound average in the current model. Ford sources aren't sure yet exactly how much aluminum will be contained in the new models, but they said the Expeditions and Navigators would be the most aluminum-intensive vehicles in Ford's entire North American truck line.
Both the standard and optional wheels on the redesigned Navigators will be aluminum, as will the optional wheels on the Expeditions. The standard V-8 engine in the Expeditions will employ aluminum in both the block and heads, while the optional Expedition engine, as well as the only powerplant offered in the new Navigators--a 32-valve, 5.4-liter V-8--will have aluminum heads.
Some shields, the engine cooling system, some air conditioner and steering system parts and several braking system components in both the Ford and Lincoln models also will be aluminum, but the lift gates will be the largest new applications for aluminum on the redesigned SUVs.
Alcan also is believed to be the designated supplier of at least some of the aluminum finstock to be used in the radiators, air conditioning and heating systems of the redesigned SUVs, and some of the primary casting alloy employed in the wheels.
Ford is only the second automaker, including the transplants, in North America to specify the use of aluminum lift gates on a line of trucks. The first was General Motors Corp., which introduced aluminum lift gates on some standard-size SUVs in 1999.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Cahners Business Information
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
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