Ford goes silent on Territory

Ford has a way to alarm its strongest competitors in the medium SUV segment: give them the silent treatment.

During a technical presentation yesterday, Ford's engineers involved in the SZ Territory development project provided a briefing to the media -- outlining the fuel efficiency of the new diesel V6 and the dynamic gains from the introduction of electric power steering.

But it's the new Territory's improvements in NVH (Noise, Vibration & Harshness) that might unsettle Holden and Toyota most.

While the Ford engineers working on the project focused on how the diesel Territory would shape up against the Toyota Prado and Holden Captiva -- both in diesel form -- there was no mention as to how well the petrol-engined Territory will compare with its most troubling competitor in the segment, Toyota's Kluger.

Yet the petrol Territory, continuing with the 4.0-litre inline six built in Geelong, benefits from many of the tweaks aimed at reducing NVH in the diesel variant. And since the petrol Territory wasn't exactly raucous before, it now poses more of a threat than ever to the Kluger in the one area where the Toyota has been the acknowledged champ -- refinement.

Michael Stellamanns, Ford's NVH Manager for the Asia Pacific region, explained to the attending journalists that buyers judge a car's quality principally on how quiet it is to drive.

"We want our customers, after the first driving experience, to be surprised at how quiet our vehicle is," he explained. "Good interior quietness, we know from customer research, correlates very well to customer satisfaction."

According to Ford's NVH supervisor for the new Territory, Manu Jean, the new Territory rates eight per cent better than the Land Rover Discovery 3 diesel on the Speech Intelligibility Articulation Index ('AI') in simulated drive-by testing. Based on a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 10 being the best and 1 being the worst -- the Territory has moved up from '6' to '7'.

Against comparable SUVs, the diesel-engined Ford has not only acquitted itself very well against the Land Rover Discovery 3 already mentioned, it also outperformed the Audi Q7, the BMW X5, Holden Captiva and Toyota Prado -- with the Disco mounted on a full chassis, which provides that vehicle with a further level of isolation from the road and the drivetrain, as Stellamanns explained.

The Ford engineers stated that the new Territory is not only quieter than the 2007 X5 benchmarked, it's also quieter than the 2011 model. When the Carsales Network asked whether Ford had considered providing a sound balance akin to the BMW's for the Territory, Jean offered an answer in the negative.

"It was never our brief; because the way the BMW achieves that is by introducing low frequencies inside the vehicle -- which is what is otherwise known as booming noises.

"If it's not done to perfection... some of these booms are potential disasters."

Jean, who described the new Territory as an "outstanding" resulted, pointed out that the BMW relied in part on technology such as "active engine mounts", but the Territory was developed around "conventional technology".

The diesel V6 in the new Territory provided a "significant challenge" for Ford's NVH team, Stellamanns said. To isolate diesel 'cackle' at idle, Ford engineers have developed an active transfer case for the all-wheel drive version. When the car is stationary with the transmission in drive, a clutch within the transfer case decouples drive to the front differential, which is now integrated with the diesel engine's sump. Previous all-wheel drive models featured the front diff bolted to the body structure, but the new set-up, with careful design, achieves lower levels of vibration transmitted through the vehicle.

Other changes for the diesel variants include revised engine mounts, a new transmission cross-member with isolating bushes, cooling pack isolation and a fan-control strategy. In the new model, the cooling fan now operates at varying speeds, to ensure optimum cooling without contributing extra noise. The fan is computer controlled to ensure noise 'excitation' doesn't combine with engine noise 'excitation' to create a 'beating' sound.

Ford engineers developed further means of isolating engine noise from the interior, including the dash insulator -- featuring a polyamide film to mimic a double-bulkhead without the cost -- plus the transmission tunnel absorber and engine undertray side skirts. Revised sealing for HVAC grommets and other firewall 'pass-throughs', including a double boot for the steering column have also minimised noise from the engine bay. Put together, these measures are named the engine encapsulation package by the Ford NVH team.

Structural components of the new Territory's body (pictured) have been engineered for optimal stiffness -- taking the drum-like quality out of the floorpan, according to Stellamanns -- and engineers have also paid careful attention to isolating the cabin from noise sources. The Ford exec used the example of a shoebox to illustrate how a poorly designed floorpan can generate boom. At the corners of the shoebox, where all is rigid, it's hard to generate noise, but flick the bottom of the box in the centre and it's possible to create a boom.

Another black spot for noise was the tailgate, which requires a cavity above it to accommodate the top part of the gate in the raised position -- but in earlier Territory models created aerodynamic noise at speed. All models will be fitted with an acoustic windscreen, which is said by Jean to provide a three per cent improvement in itself.

Reducing air leakage from the cabin by 45 per cent was achieved by minimising or sealing gaps in the bodywork, which not only reduced the ingress of external noise, but also reduced creaks and groans from the body itself.

According to Jean, the Territory now passes Ford's McDonalds drive-through test; the diesel SUV won't hinder owners from ordering their favourite burger meals on the run.

"We didn't go through McDonalds a hundred times," he said, following up with the information that Ford used its own testing facility that mimicked a typical drive-through lane for the fast food restaurant chain.

As a simulation, the test facility was adequate, but in other ways it left a lot to be desired Jean mournfully observed -- since it was unable to provide him with a "skinny cappuccino".

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