Ford Reinvents Family SUV With 2011 Explorer

Jul 27 2010 by Kristin Varela

Unless you live under a rock, you had to have noticed the loud media blitz yesterday from Ford about the new 2011 Explorer. They launched it unconventionally with live online video feeds, social media outlets and in-person reveals across the country, essentially turning yesterday into “Ford Explorer Day.” Traditionally, new cars are revealed at auto shows, where they’re competing with competitors for media coverage, but Ford didn’t feel like sharing. Can you blame them?

Ford listened to the Explorer’s target market and reinvented the quintessential family SUV into something much more modern and progressive. The new Explorer is built on a car-based platform, turning it into more of a crossover than an SUV. However, Ford maintained specific design cues, including body-colored C-pillars, that hark back to the Explorer’s traditional SUV roots.

Don’t think the Explorer has watered down its off-roading capabilities with its new platform. However, it has made them more user-friendly with the incorporation of the Terrain Management System, which allows the driver to select one of four terrain modes – Normal, Snow, Sand or Mud and Ruts – with the turn of a dial. The Explorer also has hill descent control, which “allows the driver to control the speed of hill descent without applying the brakes, even while in Reverse.” The 2011 Explorer can tow up to 5,000 pounds; the 2010 model with a V-8 engine could tow 7,115 pounds.

The other big story in the Explorer is the two inflatable seat belts in the second row’s outbound seating positions. In the event of a crash, the seat belts actually inflate, thereby spreading the force of the impact out over a larger area of a child’s chest. I’d be curious to know how these work with youngsters in high-back booster seats where the seatbelt is threaded through the head restraint’s routing mechanism. As this technology becomes more common, I suspect we’ll see it migrate back to protect third-row passengers, as well.

I’m also looking forward to testing out the automatic folding third row in the new Explorer. Most families I know have to switch rapidly from carrying people to carrying cargo and back again. Ford makes the Explorer flexible enough for many different scenarios. Go, go, gadget seats!

I’m looking forward to test-driving the new Explorer with my most critical backseat test drivers at hand to see if it can live up to all the hype. Stay tuned…