Ford looking at using carbon fibre for regular production cars
We usually associate the use of carbon fibre with high-end automobiles. However, this notion is going to change soon or atleast Ford thinks so. The company recently demonstrated a Focus wagon fitted with a carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) hood. Weighing just half of what the usual steel hood will weigh, the CFRP hood also passes all the stringent hood crash norms. CFRP, Ford emphasizes is five times stronger than conventional steel. Ford is also finding ways of getting costs down as carbon fibre is quite an expensive material to use for regular production cars. Moreover, painting CFRP parts takes a lot of time and Ford is finding a workaround for this as well.
By the end of this decade, Ford has also plans of reducing the weight of its vehicles by nearly 350kg each.
