2006 Ford Explorer Information

2006 FORD EXPLORER
 ADEPT AT WEEKEND ADVENTURES
 AND DAY-TO-DAY LIFE



Explorer offers the off-road and towing capability needed for weekend adventures, as well as the refinement and comfort needed for everyday use.


 

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2006 Explorer

 
 

2006 EXPLORER ADEPT AT WEEKEND ADVENTURES AND DAY-TO-DAY LIFE

It has been said that the Ford Model T put America on wheels. Henry Ford's car introduced motoring to the masses, and created a lifestyle of Sunday drives, summer road trips, and drive-in movies. Likewise, the Ford Explorer helped put America in sport-utility vehicles.

Before the introduction of the 1991 Ford Explorer, sport-utility vehicles were a small niche of rather crude, utilitarian vehicles solely focused on hunting and camping. Combining the comforts of a passenger car with the go-anywhere, do-anything utility of a pickup, the Explorer helped Americans define a new lifestyle.

"The Explorer was the first vehicle to offer something that does so much," says Raj Nair, SUV and Body-on-Frame Vehicles executive director. "It was the first SUV you could drive day-to-day and take camping on the weekend. It was the first that was equally good at towing a boat or hauling the kids."

As a result, the Explorer helped facilitate the emergence of a new demographic that now represents the core of the SUV market. Chris Feuell, SUV group marketing manager, calls this demographic "sensation seekers."


Explorer offers a unique combination of genuine SUV functionality with unsurpassed comfort for sensation seekers.
"We define our target customers for Explorer as 'sensation seekers,' because they are goal-oriented, seeking to constantly challenge themselves, and they are doers, as opposed to spectators. They want an SUV that keeps pace with their busy and active lifestyles, whether for hiking, camping, taking roadtrips to the national parks or carrying pets. So we've realigned our series offerings for 2006, to fit buyers' busy lives, while still enabling them to seek out excitement when the opportunity arises."

For most Americans, it's not practical to have a daily commuter and a weekend plaything. For those who need one vehicle that meets both requirements, the Explorer offers an ideal mix of comfort and capability, power and refinement. As a result, Explorer enhances owners' work-week activities, as well as enabling the weekend adventures owners work to afford in the first place.

According to Feuell, this creates an emotional connection with customers and their Explorer. For these sensation seekers, the Explorer is not just a transportation appliance. Instead, it's a tool that enables owners to live their lives.

Explorer's increased capability, bolder design focus on sensation-seekers

The 2006 Explorer enters a much more competitive market than its predecessor faced in 1991. The SUV market has grown from a few dozen entries to well over 200 unique vehicles, while the emergence of car-based crossover SUVs provide new competition for Explorer. However, crossovers also represent an opportunity for Ford to offer products better suited to unique buyers' needs, according to Feuell:

"The 2006 Explorer is really at the forefront of Ford's positioning differentiation between traditional, more capable SUVs and crossovers. As the crossover market grows, it's important to clearly differentiate between the two. The customers view them as different products, and their reasons for buying them are different as well. So you will see much more alignment with Ford's traditional SUVs and pickups - from a design standpoint, from a capability standpoint, and to some extent from a communications standpoint."


Towing and off-road capability are a key hallmark of traditional SUVs.
The 2006 Explorer's increased capabilities start under the hood, where the available 4.6-liter V-8 offers 292 horsepower, 53 more than the outgoing model. Paired with the first six-speed automatic transmission, the Explorer delivers an impressive 22 percent increase in horsepower and up to 10 percent better fuel economy.

Another contributor is the rugged, truck-like ladder-frame construction. Utilizing similar manufacturing technologies used for the Ford F-150 pickup, the Explorer's frame is all-new, and more than 60 percent stronger than before. The front and rear independent suspension and brake systems are also upgraded for increased capacity. As a result, the Explorer an impressive 7,300-pound towing capacity.

"It was essential that we kept the 2002-2005 Explorer's confident towing manners," says Judy Curran, Explorer chief engineer. "You want to make sure the Explorer is in control of the trailer, not the other way around. A significant amount of chassis testing was to validate that the Explorer's suspension, powertrain, and braking systems are confident and composed, even when pulling a trailer that weighs almost 3,000 pounds more than the truck."

The available ControlTracTM four-wheel-drive system offers both automatic four-wheel drive for foul-weather driving and a low-range for extra power, ideal for driving through deep sand or pulling a boat out of the water.

To communicate the Explorer's increased brawn, designers created a bolder, more aggressive exterior design inspired by the Ford F-150. The XLS, XLT, and Limited models feature the F-150's four-bar grille and seven-inch Ford blue oval. The Eddie Bauer Explorer features a unique, chromed three-bar grill bracketed by nostrils, reminiscent of the 2005 Ford F-150 King Ranch edition.

Similarly, the interior also takes cues from the F-150, and its "tough luxury" design theme.

"The interior really defines the 'tough luxury' theme of the 2006 Explorer," says Chelsia Lau, Explorer chief designer. "It's not a hose-out interior, but features durable, rugged design features that have a clean and modern feel. Instrumentation has an intuitive layout which is accentuated by strong geometric shapes. A prominent center stack makes a bold statement which echoes the exterior power bulge. A high level of craftsmanship and upscale features like Preferred SuedeTM inserts and wood-grained trims enhance the visual and tactile quality of the interior."

Class-exclusive safety features, AdvanceTrac® with industry-exclusive
Roll Stability Control

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's 2005 model year New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) data, the Explorer already provides one of the best impact-protection ratings among mid-sized SUVs. The new 2006 model is expected to improve on that rating.

The 2006 Ford Explorer leads its class with 10 standard advanced safety technologies. Seven of these 10 standard features are new to the mid-size SUV class, including four new adaptive technologies specifically designed using Ford's stringent internal safety targets. The result provides the most active and passive safety features in its class.

Should an accident occur, the Explorer offers enhanced side-impact protection, including new, standard front-seat side air bags, and improved, available Safety CanopyTM air curtains.

In addition, the 2006 Explorer also features Ford's exclusive AdvanceTrac® with class-exclusive Roll Stability Control (RSC®) as standard equipment. This system coordinates the Explorer's anti-lock brakes, traction control, and electronic yaw control to help prevent the loss of vehicle control that could lead to an accident. Roll Stability Control also integrates an exclusive second gyroscopic roll rate sensor to determine the vehicle's body roll angle and roll rate. If this unique roll rate sensor detects a significant roll angle, the system applies additional countermeasures — such as reducing engine power and/or applying brakes to one or more wheels — to enhance vehicle rollover resistance.

All-new, more comfortable interior for improved every-day use,
passes the "Orange Juice Test"

The 2006 Explorer also features an all-new interior. Designed using feedback from some of the 5.5 million Explorer owners, the new interior is more comfortable, quieter, and more refined than ever before.

"One of the most consistent things all Explorer owners have in common is they spend a lot of time on the road," says Feuell. "Explorer owners on average commute 70 miles roundtrip, every day. In addition, they routinely take longer road trips, spending an average of 300-500 miles on the road at a stint. As such, seating comfort, quietness and other amenities are vitally important to make the ride more pleasant for all passengers."


In response to owners' longer trips, the all-new Explorer interior is more comfortable and quieter then ever before.
As such, the Explorer engineering team examined every aspect of the Explorer, looking for opportunities to help prevent unwanted wind and road noise. The result is the quietest body-on-frame SUV in the class when measured in the first row at highway speeds. More significantly, the Explorer is dramatically quieter when measured in the second and third row seats. In fact, the Explorer's third row is quieter than the front rows of some competitors.

"According to our internal tests, the new Explorer is, overall, the quietest SUV in its class," says Lucy Yuen, Explorer NVH supervisor. "Measuring the sound levels in all three rows, you can see that most companies spend their money on the first row. In real life, the driver and front passenger are comfortable. However, the driver will find that it's hard to hold a conversation with someone in the second row, and almost impossible to hold a conversation with someone in the third row."

However, Yuen says the 2006 Explorer's quiet interior enables effortless conversation.


The Explorer's available third-row seat has been redesigned to fold completely flat, preventing items like loose golf balls from rolling out of the rear hatch.
Finally, the 2006 Explorer features exclusive features not offered on other mid-sized, mid-priced SUVs, such as an available power-fold third row seat, designed to fold flat.

According to Curran, this was just one of the changes the team implemented based on feedback from current Explorer owners — including many on the Explorer engineering team:

"The seven-passenger 2002-2005 Explorer had fold-flat seats, yet many customers complained about the incline of the load floor, almost 10 degrees from vertical: One customer opened the liftgate, and had a can of frozen orange juice ruined as it fell onto the pavement. Another talked about golf balls rolling out, bouncing down the parking lot.

"So, the second- and third-row seats were redesigned to fold flat. Not merely creating a smooth load floor, but to fold with virtually zero included angle of incline. We created the flattest load floor in the industry (among seven-passenger SUVs), to pass our newest measure, what we call the Orange Juice Test."


Explorer offers the off-road and towing capability needed for weekend adventures, as well as the refinement and comfort needed for everyday use.

As a result of these improvements, the 2006 Ford Explorer is well equipped to fulfilling the needs of sensation seekers looking for weekend adventures. Plus, the Explorer is equally adept at the day-to-day tasks all of us undertake, like safely transporting your orange juice.



 

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