Ford brightens the day for tyre manufacturers: electronic wheel-locking system across the entire Mustang range

The electronic wheel-locking system will no longer be exclusive to the Mustang V8 GT. Ford will offer it as standard across the entire Mustang range from late 2017.

Owners of any Mustang version have reason to celebrate. They will be able to have fun burning rubber and making their tyres smoke thanks to Ford including in every version of its muscle car the advanced electronic wheel-locking system that until now was offered exclusively on the top-of-the-range version, the Mustang V8 GT.

In this way, drivers will be able to see and control, through the new 12-inch digital instrument panel screen (one of the largest currently offered), the entire process that allows them to perform “burnouts” with complete confidence and without compromising their safety or that of other road users.

Tyre manufacturers will be pleased when, at the end of this year, Ford extends the availability of the electronic wheel-locking system to the rest of its Mustang range, including those equipped with the 2.3-litre Ecoboost engines. Available in combination with either the 10-speed SelectShift automatic gearbox or the six-speed manual, the system will allow owners of any Mustang to burn rubber with complete safety.

Furthermore, on models equipped with the new 12-inch digital instrument cluster (one of the largest currently available in the automotive industry), drivers will enjoy, on the cluster display, an animation similar to those used in the video game industry in which a wheel begins to spin until it smokes (see attached video), thus indicating when the electronic locking system is activated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plDofMvYYAQ

“It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many times you’ve done it: burning rubber never goes out of style,” says Vaughn Gittin Jr, Formula Drift champion, who believes “we should applaud Ford for offering things as radical as what it is offering. Who would have thought an Ecoboost Mustang could deliver 15 seconds of unleashed fury like this?”. Gittin stars in one of the videos accompanying these lines, in which he is seen randomly recruiting pedestrians in southern California and taking them to the Irwindale circuit so they can enjoy burning rubber with the Mustang.

The electronic locking system has traditionally been used in Drifting competitions by drivers to warm up the tyres of their cars before the start and thus improve traction at the moment the lights turn green. The system introduced by Ford takes advantage of state-of-the-art software technology to allow the driver, without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel, to select with their thumbs the menu that activates the electronic locking system. Once selected, the system itself applies the appropriate pressure to the front brake calipers, while the driver presses another button that maintains that pressure for up to 15 seconds while accelerating and spinning the rear wheels with the car remaining stationary in the same place.

“The number of people choosing EcoBoost engines in the Mustang continues to grow globally, as does the increase in torque and the new features it offers. That is why, so that they don’t feel disappointed, we have introduced the wheel-locking system in the EcoBoost Mustangs too, because we didn’t want those customers to stop enjoying one of the classic manoeuvres of muscle cars,” says Mark Schaller, Brand Manager of the Ford Mustang.

Electronic wheel locking is one of the many changes the new version of the Mustang will offer, which Ford will unveil at the end of this year, and which will also feature a more elegant and athletic design, and new front and rear styling. It will also incorporate new technological improvements. Together with the new digital instrument panel and the aforementioned 12-inch screen, the Mustang will allow customisation of how it is used thanks to the My Mode function, whose memory recalls the driver’s preferences in the model’s configuration, and will add new driver-assistance systems such as Precollision Assist with pedestrian detection to those already available.

Ford also announces in its press release, though without specifying which, performance improvements for the various engine variants for the new model thanks to important updates to be carried out on them, especially in terms of power. It will also introduce a new 10-speed automatic gearbox, faster and more precise, which will deliver interesting fuel consumption savings.

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CoupeFord Mustang6 versions · from 62,405 €