All-New Ford Ranger Gets Into Deep Water

The all-new Ford Ranger isn’t afraid of any April showers. Come flood or high water, the vehicle confidently takes it all in its durable stride, buoyed by its best-in-class water-wading capability of 800 mm. The 4×4 and 4×2 Hi-Rider models can wade through deep water even while carrying a full load.

During the extensive water testing, Ford’s latest global compact pickup was loaded to gross vehicle mass — as heavy as it possibly could be — so that the Ranger was riding at the lowest possible height. Most customers would not be carrying so much weight when fording rivers or floods, but the Ranger’s ability to do so provides additional peace of mind.

Engineers tested the Ranger over a variety of water depths and speeds. For example, they drove the Ranger through 50 mm of water at 30 km/h, 50 km/h and 65 km/h to simulate going through big long puddles on the ground. They then increased the depth at 50-mm intervals until they got to 800 mm, at which the engineers were driving through the water bath at 7 km/h, or approximately walking pace.

The water bath is 50 m long and has angled sides to replicate the bow wave that forms at the front of the vehicle as it pushes through the water. This closely simulates what happens in real life when the Ranger has to wade through deep water.

“When we go through the water bath, we’re looking out for every possible functional failure in the vehicle. The most critical one would be if water was sucked through the air intake into the engine, resulting in hydro-lock, which can bend the piston’s connecting rods and potentially destroy the entire engine,” said Tom Dohrmann, the development engineer in charge of Ranger’s water management. “We have to protect against such failures so that our customers can go deeper without causing catastrophic damage to their engines.”

Achieving 800 mm
To deliver a very capable Ranger that can go deeper than any of its competitors, the engineers concentrated on finding strategic positions for key components, especially the air intake. They finally positioned it above the water line in the right fender above the wheel arch liner. The transmission breather hoses were also placed above the water line.

In the early stages of the Ranger’s development, the engineers found that the alternator was too low in the Duratorq diesel engine for the 800-mm water-wading capability target. They proposed moving the alternator up high, as it would also be good for the component’s durability since dust or stones are less likely to get thrown at it during offroad driving. The change was made for the Ranger and ended up in other Ford vehicles programs too because the Duratorq diesel engine is a global Ford engine.

For components that had to be below the water line, such as fuel tanks and rear parking sensors, they had to be suitably waterproofed to ensure they would do their job even when wet. Considering the height of the water line changes depending on whether the vehicle is moving or stationary — the water line starts higher at the front and slopes down toward he rear of the pickup when it’s moving due to changing pressure of the water — the biggest challenge for the engineers was in finding a place for all the components.

“We did it in the end and we’re very proud of how deep the Ranger can go,” said Dohrmann. “When faced with a water crossing, you’ll be able to drive it into the water deeper than the competition can, through the water, out of the water and onto safe ground.”