TIL: The New Aviator and Explorer have floor-mounted gas pedals

"for Michigan" (formichigan)
03/27/2019 at 17:25 • Filed to: None

Which is also one of the few notable similarities in their interiors.

DISCUSSION (27)

Spanfeller is a twat > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:32

In my SLK, the pedal is hinged on the floor, but the mount is on top

Sort of?

Kinja'd!!!

Seems like an odd choice.

Chariotoflove > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:34

My Genie does too.

I love those Lincoln interiors.

DSM_OR_DIE::Drives_A_Miata > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:35

Is this a good thing? A bad thing? All of my cars have been firewall mounted affairs so I don’t have any floor-mounted experience to compare to, unless you count the one time I got to drive a 914 for five minutes.

for Michigan > Spanfeller is a twat
03/27/2019 at 17:35

That’s so strange.

Spanfeller is a twat > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:36

That’s the 90s for you

for Michigan > DSM_OR_DIE::Drives_A_Miata
03/27/2019 at 17:36

I love the floor-mounted pedal in my 1-series, so IMO it’s great.

For Sweden > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:37

Anything aviation-themed should have throttle levers.

WilliamsSW > For Sweden
03/27/2019 at 17:38

And mixture controls

WilliamsSW > DSM_OR_DIE::Drives_A_Miata
03/27/2019 at 17:40

A good thing, IMHO. Think about how you press the gas pedal - the ‘hinge’ in your foot is at the ankle, pretty much the bottom. Bottom hinged gas pedals match your body better.

As a bonus, I think it’s a little tougher for the pedal to get jammed if nothing can slide under it.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:40

breaks my head a little we all hate people on their phones whilst driving

so we put giant fucking tablets on the dash

NKato > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 17:48

Lincoln gets their frames from Ford, and have high parts commonality with the Ford line.

Ex. Crown Victoria, Town Car, Grand Marquis.

DSM_OR_DIE::Drives_A_Miata > WilliamsSW
03/27/2019 at 17:57

I didn’t think about things getting jammed under the pedals. I once had a cat escape from her carrier at the beginning of a drive from Cincinnati to Terre Haute. The firewall was apparently the warmest place in the car so she spent the drive behind the brake and gas pedals. So yeah, that’s a valid concern.

WilliamsSW > DSM_OR_DIE::Drives_A_Miata
03/27/2019 at 18:02

Yikes! That would freak me out.

My main reason for liking the bottom hinge is that it lines up with your ankle. As I was typing it, it just occurred to me that it has a bonus benefit of *probably* making it harder to get the pedal stuck from floor mats or whatever. I don’t have any science behind that, but it seems reasonable.

I have 3 cars now, 2 of them are German with bottom hinges, the other is Japanese and top hinged, and the bottom hinges are just more comfortable to me.

Nibby > Spanfeller is a twat
03/27/2019 at 18:39

this looks like a leaf spring with a pedal

jimz > NKato
03/27/2019 at 19:13

Frames?

jimz > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 19:14

the nice thing is how much less cramped and claustrophobic the new Explorer is compared to the old one.

the old one is like “how did you make such a big goddamn vehicle feel so small inside?”

Honeybunchesofgoats > WilliamsSW
03/27/2019 at 19:16

Personally, I hate floor-mounted pedals. It feels much less precise, since you have to rest your heel on it to get leverage.

NKato > jimz
03/27/2019 at 19:21

The body subframe. It’s the basis for a line of vehicles from Lincoln and Ford. Look in this wiki article for the current Lincoln Aviator. It uses the same “architecture”, aka, hardware. That includes body frames. They just changed styling without changing the internal workings.

This is how luxury brands turn a big profit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Aviator

jimz > NKato
03/27/2019 at 19:39

“They just changed styling without changing the internal workings.”

in practice, this means 80% of the cars are different. it’s not just “restyling,” the entire top hat is different, most of the interior is different, etc. I know how these things are built. Not to pull rank here, but I was crawling around the Explorer and Aviator last summer, before anyone even knew what they were.

and my “frames?” response was to highlight the fact that these are unit body, there is no frame. The bulk of the shared structure is floorpan and front/rear crash and structural hardpoints. that doesn’t mean “Lincolns get their frames from Ford.”

for Michigan > NKato
03/27/2019 at 19:43

The word you’re looking for is platform.

Pretty sure the only platform common to Ford and Lincoln that still uses a frame is the T3 Platform under the Expedition and Navigator.

for Michigan > jimz
03/27/2019 at 19:45

I assume that’s due to the old one sharing a platform with the Taurus, which had a similar problem.

Spanfeller is a twat > Nibby
03/27/2019 at 19:53

I drove barefoot once, it feels very strange because as you accelerate the pedal also moves up because of the mount

nj959 > Spanfeller is a twat
03/27/2019 at 20:05

I think my dad’s E500 is like that too. So it continued a bit past the 90s.

jimz > for Michigan
03/27/2019 at 20:45

you assume incorrectly.

WilliamsSW > Honeybunchesofgoats
03/27/2019 at 22:32

It’s dependent on what you press the gas with, I suppose. I like having my heel at the bottom of the pedal. But if you like to use your toe, it’s not ideal.

i86hotdogs > jimz
03/28/2019 at 07:12

How does it compare to the Flex? I know it’s an outgoing model, but I can’t ge t over how roomy the Flex is over most other 3 row vehicles besides the gargantuan Suburban/Yukon XL/Escalade ESV.

jimz > for Michigan
03/28/2019 at 08:42

to elaborate (so as to not leave it with terse comment) there’s nothing particular about the platform which caused this. The Five Hundred/pre-2010 Taurus and the Flex share the same platform, and they’re not cramped. it was pretty much all styling driven, with large dashboards swooping into large center consoles, and heavily styled door trim panels which were very deep. these were basically the same car under the skin:

Kinja'd!!!