Ford’s Model Bronco Sport – The First Car Made with Recycled Ocean Plastic
Ford is one of the popular used American car makes in the UAE, known for manufacturing family car, SUVs, trucks, crossovers, sports, electric and hybrid vehicles. The brand has also earned a reputation for utilising sustainable materials in building its vehicles. Thus, being consistent in its legacy, Ford has announced its first vehicle to feature parts made of 100% recycled ocean plastic.
The new Ford Bronco Sport 2022 is the first car made up of recycled ocean plastic. The SUV’s wiring harness clips are made of ghost gear, which is the term used for ocean plastic created from approximately 13 million tons of ocean pollution including the discarded fish net. Hence, by recycling the ocean plastic Ford is going to harvest tons of pollution.
Here is all you need to know about the process and how Ford is using it make auto manufacturing eco-friendlier.
Recycling Ocean Plastic
Ford has partnered with DSM Engineering Materials to collect ocean plastic from the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Aside from reducing the carbon footprint of the auto manufacturing process, teh initiative has helped in creating jobs as well as promoted clean and healthy marine life.
Here are all the details of how new Ford Bronco parts are made of recycled ocean plastic:
Ocean Plastic Collection and Recycling Process
Ford is using the discarded fishing nets collected from the ocean to manufacture the wiring harness clips in the Bronco Sport model. Ford Bronco is a 4×4 SUV featuring an Ecoboost engine and 10-speed Automatic Transmission, perfect for an off-road trails in the UAE.
The process to recycle starts by harvesting the collected fishing nets, which is then cleaned using saltwater and left for drying. After drying, the nets are then shaped form small pellets. Hellermann Tyton, the supplier then injection molds them into wire harness clip shape.
The recycled plastics from the ocean are durable just like any regular material used in auto parts produced by Ford for its vehicles. These ocean plastics have successfully passed the strength tests performed by the automaker. Moreover, manufacturing auto parts with recycled plastics consumes less energy and is cheaper up to 10%.
The new Ford Bronco parts made of recycled ocean plastic is the initial step to manufacture various auto parts by recycling waste.
These parts in Ford Bronco Sport are mounted on the sides of second-row seats to hold side curtain air bags’ wires.
Moving forward, Ford plans to recycle waste to manufacture various auto parts in its vehicles. For instance, the automobile manufacturer is planning to make floor side rails, transmission brackets, wire shields as well as stationary auto parts using recycled ocean plastics. The stationary auto parts will be first tested for strength and durability.
Ford Bronco Sport is the first car to feature parts made of 100% recycled ocean plastic, whereas, Ford Escape 2020 is the first to feature underbody shields made of discarded plastic water bottles. With this, underbody shields were lightweight and noise-reducing. If you are interested in this model, you may opt to buy a used Ford Escape 2020 in the UAE.
other than ocean plastic, Ford has used recycled plastics for more than 20 years to manufacture different auto parts for its vehicles.
The introduction of new Ford Bronco parts made of recycled ocean plastic is one of the significant initiatives to minimise marine pollution. If you wish to buy the new Ford Bronco Sport 2022, you can head to the Al Tayer Motors showroom, which is the official dealer of Ford vehicles in the Gulf. Whereas, you can also opt to buy a used Ford Bronco in the UAE.
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