Drivers hate potholes—and for good reason. AAA finds that Americans paid $15 billion in pothole-related repair bills over the past five years. Now, Ford (F) may have a cure for pothole pain.
The 2017 Ford Fusion V6 Sport offers special computer technology that recognizes when the vehicle is heading for a pothole. It then makes changes to the shock absorbers so the wheel doesn’t fall as far into it, helping to reduce damage.
Yahoo Finance columnist and car expert Rick Newman speaks from experience that a system to reduce pothole damage is a good thing.
“I actually blew a tire not so long ago hitting a pothole,” he explains. “That’s just a joyless element of owning a car. It would be great if we had a way not to get tangled in potholes.”
Newman predicts this feature won’t be widely available in other cars, but it likely will be soon.
“This will be optional on a higher trim line in a fairly expensive car, so it’s not likely this will be out everywhere,” he points out. “But that’s what usually happens—they start out on more expensive models as options and work their way down, and eventually this technology becomes standard.”
He adds that a computerized pothole detector is just part of a growing auto industry trend to make cars increasingly technologically advanced. And more is on the way.
“We’re going to have Internet in cars. They’re going to integrate it much more seamlessly with your smartphone, your mobile devices,” he notes. “You’re going to be able to take everything you do on your phone, more or less, into your car with you as long as it's safe.”
John Burke, CEO at Burke Financial Strategies, says car companies need to keep offering new “tricked out” vehicles to keep up sales.
“The auto business is a hyper-competitive industry,” he argues. “Nobody’s made any money in buying auto stocks except maybe in a trade. I think that’s why Ford is doing this—because they have to.”
Newman agrees, adding that the companies are hoping to reposition themselves to look more attractive to Wall Street.
“The automakers are trying really hard to tell a growth story and get people to think that maybe these are more like tech companies than old industrial companies,” he explains. “That’s why you’re seeing all this new technology coming in cars. The automakers hope that it will renew interest in shareholders. We’ll see.”