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CUSTOMERS TO FIND FRIENDLY TERRITORY

Delivering on customer needs is clearly evident in Territory's ergonomics package.

"From a design perspective, Territory's interior gave us a great challenge, as we wanted to really deliver on a host of package and ergonomic requirements," said Ford Design Director Simon Butterworth.

"There's a lot of ingenuity incorporated into Territory, with a lot of clever thought devoted to thinking about the driver and all the passengers.

"We had to ensure we catered for the needs of up to seven people sitting in the vehicle at the one time, ensuring all the controls were in the right place and maximising the storage capability of the vehicle.

"We also needed to think about how people would use Territory, and how we could best use the available space for needs of individual customers."

Fortunately, the package and ergonomic engineers had an excellent base to start from.

"Territory represents a package engineer's dream," said Package and Ergonomics Attribute Leader Roger Lewis.

"It has the roominess to suit a broad range of occupants, the visibility and ingress/egress to suit people at all life stages and plenty of storage capacity.

"All this flexibility is contained inside a vehicle that is physically no bigger than a Falcon, providing the customer with the freedom to enjoy the driving experience."

Lewis said customers would enjoy the command driving position.

"The driver's seat in Territory is higher off the floor than in a sedan. This has provided the vehicle with excellent ingress/egress, as the hip-point – or H-point – is about the same height from the ground as an average adult's hips when they are standing next to the vehicle.

"You don't climb up into Territory and you don't sit down into it either. You just slide into the vehicle, which is a real advantage.

"We have all-new seat designs for Territory, with 55mm of height adjustment in the four-way power driver's seat that is standard on the entry level model. The high series range will come standard with six-way power driver's seat with a memory function.

"That means we have excellent height adjustment and the capacity to easily accommodate people up to 194cm.

"In another first for an Australian vehicle, power adjustable pedals will be standard on Territory. This will allow occupants of all shapes and sizes to assume a safer, more comfortable driving position.

"Power adjustable pedals are especially useful for smaller drivers, eliminating the uncomfortable compromise of bunching their arms up against the steering wheel.

"Being able to adjust the pedals rearward allows them to stretch their legs to a more comfortable position, and then adjust the steering wheel to suit."

The rear flip glass on Territory opens to enable customers to place items in the rear cargo section without opening the lift gate.

The plastic appliqué extends much lower than the edge of the glass, allowing shorter people easier access to get items in and out of Territory.

"We have doors that open to 65 degrees (front) and 70 degrees (rear). In addition, when the door is restricted – say in a tight car park – Territory customers will still have excellent access to all seats.

"We've achieved this by having an all-new A-pillar structure with new hinges. The front of the door opening aperture has been pulled forward 60mm."

Lewis said the package team worked hard on keeping the floor to rocker sill height to a minimum.

"We were very particular about the step-over width. That's the distance between the H-point and the extreme outboard of the vehicle.

"Allowing people to get in and out of the vehicle in one movement was paramount to the team and we fought hard to keep that step-over width to a minimum."

Lewis said young families would appreciate the detail and thought that had gone into constructing the second row seat.

"The second row H-point, like the front seat, is about 750mm off the ground, which makes the second row seat particularly good if you have children with booster or child safety seats. Parents will not have to lean all the way into the car to buckle up their children.

"Easy access to the second row seat is provided by having the door opening with a fully upright C-pillar and the top of the rear door being a fair way from the customer's head. It makes putting anything in the second row seat a very easy task."

Lewis said Territory provided a high, upright driving position that generated a number of advantages.

"It's great for visibility because you can easily see further forward over the bonnet.

"We focussed on visibility for Territory, particularly being able to see all around the vehicle. It's important not just for driving safety, but also when reversing the vehicle out of your driveway and being aware of children or pets in close proximity."


Territory owners will particularly enjoy the excellent and well thought-out ergonomics of the vehicle.

"The grab handle, the position of the window switches, the door handle, the shifter and the pedals are all positioned so a wide range of customers can easily set themselves up in an excellent seating position with all controls in easy reach."

Lewis explained that Territory engineers had remained faithful to the three pillars of ergonomics.

"The first is findability – literally being able to find the right button at the right time.

"The second is accessibility – once you've found the right button, can you actually reach it?

"The third is useability – is the button intuitive, does it work the way you'd expect it to without having to consult the owner's manual?"

Lewis said there was much more to the field of ergonomics than posture.

"It's very much being able to have the driver or passengers interact with the vehicle quickly, so they don't have to take their eyes off the road.

"We've been able to achieve high levels with Territory through the use of Ramsis manikins. These are three dimension manikins created from large, anthropometric databases.

"These manikins are recreated with Computer Aided Design (CAD) so we can engender a number of manikins with a variety of shapes and sizes, from small children to 97th percentile adults.

"By using these manikins during the design process, we can accurately demonstrate what parameters we're trying to meet, whether it be accessing the CD player, finger curl around the steering wheel or reaching the indicator stalks.

"We used software that helps us to mould the instrument panel so we can look at things like visibility through the steering wheel.

"We employed CAD to a major degree in the design of BA Falcon, but the Territory program has taken that process to a new level," Lewis said.