Car Moon

From next year, the fonts in Ford’s Edge and Explorer SUV models will be some 40% larger as well as thicker. The reason? Baby Boomers have poor eyesight. No, really, Ford’s done a study and everything. The bigger fonts will extend to interior display screens control and A/C controls, and will gradually be rolled out onto other models in the Ford range in coming years.

In a statement on their website, Ford expressed its desire to make it, “easier for people of all ages, particularly aging Baby Boomers, to read display fonts.” Ah, like the little boy or girl who flat-out tells his grandparents that they’re old and wrinkly, Ford has snagged upon that babying / slow and loud way anyone under the age of 30 speak to anyone over the age of 50:

“YES, MRS. JOHNSON. THE WEATHER IS NICE TODAY. DO YOU THINK YOU’LL GO DOWN TO THE PARK?”

Ford's freshly launched 2011 Explorer SUV has received its first safety recall for a problem concerning the second row of seats. The recall affects approximately 1,658 Explorers made between July and December of last year.

Even if you know your winter driving ABCs and have properly equipped your car, sometimes there’s no way to avoid getting snowed in. Should that happen in a thriving metropolis, chances are that the sanitation “cavalry” will have your back covered. However, this wasn’t the case in New York, as a Sanitation Department loader got stuck and, in what can only be described as a very poor effort of trying to free it, the on-the-scene personnel seriously damaged a city owned - ah, the irony - Ford Explorer parked nearby.

Check out the video after the jump to see dumb and dumber at work.

The official EPA fuel-economy numbers have been posted for the V6 Ti-VCT version of Ford's chunky 2011 Explorer. The 3.5-liter six-cylinder engine produces 292 hp, or 80 ponies more than the outgoing model’s 4.0-liter V6. Despite the power increase, the new crossover returns an EPA-certified 17 mpg city and 25 mpg highway, which accounts to a 25 percent improvement over the previous V6 model.

The American police car segment is heating up with equally interesting offers from GM (Chevy Caprice), Chrysler (Dodge Charger) and Ford. In their latest battle, the Dearborn automaker's Taurus-based AWD Police Interceptor achieved the fastest lap time in tests carried out by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD), signaling that it's a worthy successor for the Crown Victoria.

FoMoCo is really gearing up for this year's edition of the Las Vegas SEMA Show in the beginning of November where it will display more customized models that we can keep track of. Aside from the Fiesta cars we told you about in a previous article, the Dearborn automaker has also joined forces with several other tuners to create customized versions of the all-new 2011 Explorer, Taurus SHO, Edge and Fusion Sport, as well as the all-new Lincoln MKX. Follow the jump to check out pictures and details on all of Ford's aftermarket-prepped models.

Ford has released some new pictures and video footage of the new Explorer SUV hot-weather testing in Dubai. According to the Dearborn automaker, with a 50 percent humidity factor and midday temperatures pushing over 125 degrees Fahrenheit, the desert climate provides "an ideal environment to test and validate vehicle performance in some of the world's most extreme conditions."

Welcome to the next-generation Ford Explorer Pursuit, aka the Police Interceptor Utility. This, for lack of a better term, is the "wagon" version of the Taurus Interceptor. Got a 0.50-cal or a K-9? You're gonna be in this thing.

Designed to "complement the sedan", the Explorer Pursuit will be available for order next to the sedan when the Crown Vic finally passes away (so don't be shy about trying something new, 5-0!). It will also be 20% more efficient than the outgoing Panther-based cruiser.

Ford has barely been moving half of what it predicted at the low end of annual Flex sales. However, since its platform is so spread out through the FoMoCo portfolio, the Flex helps spread some costs around while giving Ford a big people-mover. But there's more to the Flex than just being a box on wheels, and not enough people get it yet.

With the new Explorer "SUV" coming out, people are insinuating that the Flex could be put down if it can't start pulling more of its weight. Some argue that the two vehicles are much too similar, both seating seven, offering AWD, and being "aimed squarely at families".

Yes, they are family cars, but for different kinds of families. Two related products with two unique customers? My goodness, good thing Ford has a marketing division.

Our Dubai crowd appears to be on a roll lately. For the second time this week, a Carscoop reader from UAE's most populated emirate managed to snag a prototype version of the upcoming Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster on the road. Maciek also spotted the freshly revealed 2011 Ford Explorer in some funky black and white camouflage. Ford's people noted on the company's dedicated Explorer page on Facebook that the SUV was out hot weather testing in the desert. More pictures after the jump.

No thanks to Ford's massive promotional campaign, even if you didn't care to know, by now you've probably heard that the new generation of the Explorer SUV is out in the open.

We've already posted all the details along with a comprehensive gallery on the 7-seater crossover here, but the Dearborn automaker has released new photos from the presentation events that took place in various cities across the country including Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York City.

If you follow the jump, you'll also find four videos that showcase the Explorer in motion and highlight the SUV's new technology features such as the Terrain Management System. We remind you that the redesigned Explorer will be offered at launch with two powerplants, a 290HP 3.5-liter V6 and a 235HP 2.0-liter EcoBoost Turbo. Sales start later this year with a base price of $28,995 -including delivery- for the V6 model.

Ford's frustrating striptease tactics came to an end today with the official unveiling of the all-new Explorer SUV (or shall we say, crossover?) that goes on sale in the U.S. at the end of the year with pricing said to start $1,000 less than the current base model at $28,995. More details on prices will be released closer to the launch date.

The new Explorer marks a significant departure from the outgoing version as the 7-seater model switched from a heavy body-on-frame to the same unibody structure with independent from and rear suspension used on the Ford Taurus sedan and Flex crossover, as well as on the Lincoln MKS.

Ford says that while adding significant content to the vehicle, engineers were able to reduce total vehicle weight by almost 100 pounds through the use of lighter materials such as an aluminum hood.

Ford's dedicated Facebook page on the new 2011 Explorer hit 30,000 fans / likes today and to celebrate this oh so special achievement, the company published one more photo in a long line of dreadfully boring teaser pictures. This time, Ford showed off the '11 Explorer SUV's grille piece. Nothing more to say here.

More interestingly, the Dearborn automaker also released a new video explaining the process that went into camouflaging the prototype versions of the SUV model, which by the way, will be unveiled on Monday, July 26. You can watch the video after the jump.

In less than a week's time, on Monday July 26, the teasing will finally be over with the unveiling of the completely redesigned for 2011, Ford Explorer. But until then, Ford will continue to offer sneak peeks of its car-based crossover through pictures and videos.

This time, the Dearborn-based automaker released a photograph of Jennifer Brace who helped design MyFord Touch partially revealing the 2011 Explorer's dashboard and center console, as well as two videos with Ford racing drivers Robert Hight and Bob Tasca III.

The new 2011 Explorer will arrive in U.S. showrooms before the end of the year. It will be offered with the choice of a 2.0-liter turbocharged four and a 3.5-liter V6, both paired to a six-speed automatic transmission for improved fuel economy.

About a week before Ford lifts the covers off the all-new 2011 Explorer, the company released the first details about the expected fuel economy performance of the SUV's new 2.0-liter turbocharged straight-four EcoBoost petrol engine.

Ford says the Explorer with the EcoBoost engine will get at least 30 percent better gas mileage than the existing V6-powered 2010 Explorer, without, however, releasing any specific numbers.

The current Explorer with the 210HP 4.0-liter V6 is rated at 14mpg city, 20mpg highway and 16mpg combined (4x2 model), meaning that fuel economy for the EcoBoost-powered 2011 Explorer will be better than 18.2/26/20.8 mpg respectively.

As if FoMoCo's marketing department would stop at round four... Anyway, here are two more crappy cropped teaser images of the all-new 2011 Ford Explorer crossover / SUV that is set to be fully revealed on the firm's Facebook page at the end of this month. If you haven't done so already, follow the jump to check out the rest of the pictures.

Here are a couple of new teaser shots of the upcoming 2011 Ford Explorer SUV that were released by the Detroit automaker on the vehicle's Facebook page. This time we get a peek of the front quarter panel and head lamp assembly as well as the SUV's profile. It shouldn't be long before Ford swipes the covers off its all-new Explorer which is set to go sale in the U.S. later this year, so stay tuned for more. In the meantime, check out our previous post here that includes a video clip of a prototype model.

No really, Ford is in fact trying to convince us that it is teasing the new explorer and not a boat in this latest picture that was uploaded on the SUV's dedicated Facebook page. Whatever. The redesigned from the ground up 2011 Explorer should descend upon us in a couple of weeks time, maybe even sooner. Time wasters can check out the rest of the teaser pictures after the jump.

Ford has dropped some new teaser footage of a camouflaged 2011 Explorer, with the vehicle's Program Manager, Julie Levine, describing how the new SUV is being put to the test in various on and off-road tests. The new unibody Explorer will be unwrapped in July and go on sale in the States later this year.

It will be offered with the company's new 2.0-liter Ecoboost turbocharged four-pot and a 3.5-liter V6 engine in both naturally aspirated and twin-turbocharged versions.

Ladies and gents, we present to you Amy Marentic, FoMoCo's car, crossover and SUV marketing manager. And oh, the vehicle stalking her is the forthcoming, 2011 Ford Explorer. The Dearborn automaker released this new teaser photo as Marentic was recently interviewed by Reuters on the 2011 Explorer, which is expected to be officially revealed in July.

In that interview, she talked about what led the company to "reinvent" the Explorer and how Ford will try to win back customer loyalty.

"Right now six out of 10 who own an Explorer defect to another brand," said Marentic. "We want to switch that around and keep all of those customers like we used to in the early to mid-1990s."

To achieve this, Ford says that the new Explorer will retain many of the capabilities of a traditional SUV, with three rows of seats for up to seven adults, and the ability to tow a 19-foot boat, adding to the equation an improved ride, sharper handling and at least a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy over the current Explorer's 14 mpg city and 20 mpg highway numbers.