All-New Ford Ranger Makes Room For More Space

[russellw]

May 20 2011

• Ranger boasts exceptionally good front head room
• The Double Cab has maximum interior space without compromising the cargo box volume
• Engineers optimised every millimetre of Ranger's dimensions and came up with innovative solutions to provide more interior space

As more and more customers use their pickup to haul not only cargo but also people, the all-new Ford Ranger delivers more cabin room where it matters.

Boasting exceptionally good front head room as well as rear leg room and knee clearance in the Double Cab, Ford's global pickup gives customers maximum interior space without compromising the substantial cargo box volume.
Engineers put in a lot of effort into keeping the vehicle short but the occupant space large by fully utilising every millimetre of Ranger's dimensions. They also came up with innovative solutions to make sure there's no wasted space.
At the start of the Ranger program, the engineers were given targets for the pickup's interior, overall length and the box length.
"We weren't quite sure how to get all of them to add up. It was like making 2+2 = 3," quipped David Stanley, package supervisor, Product Development, Ford Australia.
In the end they found a way to optimise the clearance between the rear seat, the box and the body structure. They slimmed down the back of the seats and headrests, while ensuring the same level of comfort. They also used clever shapes in the sheet metal, by utilising smaller sections instead of one large section. This meant they could make the body structure thinner without compromising on the vehicle integrity.
Likewise, to achieve front head room of 1022mm, the engineers squeezed the clearance between the headliner and the sheet metal to the absolute minimum.
"It should be big enough to do its job and no more," Stanley said. "We try to account for every millimetre and during Ranger's development, we'd often find a few millimetres here and a few millimetres there which we would pare down to push out the interior as much as possible."
As a result, Ranger's front leg, shoulder and hip room are ultra-competitive while the overall roominess in the front is set to rival some leading competitors.
Zooming in on the back seat
With Ranger increasingly being a work-and-family vehicle, the engineers have paid special attention to the rear seats. While the second row in the Super Cab is very spacious, it's the rear seats in the Double Cab that truly shine.
Shifting away from the one-door-fits-all approach, Ranger now has a two-door strategy. The Regular Cab and Super Cab share one long front door, while the Double Cab has a separate shorter front door. Moving the B-pillar forward in the Double Cab has done Ranger a whole world of good.
The Double Cab delivers rear leg room of 902mm and knee clearance of 39mm. This translates into three adults fitting easily in the second row while two six-footers can comfortably sit one behind the other. The rear ingress and egress are also among the best in the segment.
Moreover, the rear glass is bigger which not only helps the driver’s vision but also gives the second-row occupants a more spacious feeling, due to the greater amount of light that comes in. The perception of roominess is further enhanced by the B-pillar being further away from the eye. To open up the interior even more, engineers went down to the details and optimised the pillar size, pillar trim and the blackout on the glass, squeezing them as small as possible.
Still, it wasn't enough to whittle down every last millimetre. The engineers made sure the seat back angle was optimised. Some competitors make the rear seats very vertical to improve leg room and knee room but second-row occupants might just end up slouching into the available knee room.
"We wanted Ranger to be better than an ordinary pickup. We wanted it to have the comfort levels of an SUV," Stanley said. "So we looked at the hip angle, back angle and torso angle to make sure we've got it right."