06-21-06: Testing all Ford’s newest cars and trucks sounds like an exciting, fun-filled job — sometimes it can be. For example, take a trip that Andy Vrenko, a vehicle development engineer for Ford, took while testing the 2007 Ford Shelby GT500.

“We were on the road at 4 a.m.,” Vrenko recalls. “We started out by driving through a mudslide in Death Valley (Calif.) and then got caught in a snowstorm in Flagstaff (Ariz.). As we reached Colorado, we ran into a sandstorm. After a solid 19 hours on the road, we finally arrived at our destination. This particular test I would categorize as the definition of ‘extreme’ development.”

A normal day in the life of a tester — if there is such a thing as “normal” for a job that varies so much — depends on where the vehicle is in its development cycle and which parts are being tested.

“Early in the development cycle, we spend a lot of time planning,” says Gene Martindale, a development engineer who worked on Ford’s high-performance supercar, the Ford GT. “After that, we begin the actual testing. We test on public roads for standard driving situations, and we use the Dearborn Development Center in Dearborn (Mich.) for performance handling. We also use the World Class Ride Roads there to evaluate ride quality, the high-speed oval to test high-speed stability, and the durability roads to test structural stiffness and strength.”

With Ford’s testing facilities in Arizona, Michigan, Belgium and Germany, engineers can tailor vehicle testing to the characteristics of each facility.

While the track facilities are essential to fine-tune the ride, handling and performance of Ford vehicles, for certain tests, there’s no substitute for reality. When it comes to brake noise, for example, there’s no way to duplicate the stop-and-go traffic of Los Angeles.

During these phases, the job can become routine.

“There is a lot of repetition,” says Vrenko. “When we’re testing for brake noise, we spend up to 10 hours a day driving in city traffic. We can’t listen to the radio or CDs, because we’re listening for squeaks and squeals during braking. For some testing, teams will drive in city traffic for 20 hours per day for two solid weeks.”

Vrenko and Martindale estimate they each spend 600 hours per year in vehicles. “When I’m not testing,” says Martindale, “I’m designing parts, preparing for tests or analyzing test data.”

Then there’s the paperwork.

“Reporting our findings and documenting our progress is an essential aspect of testing,” says Martindale, “but it is definitely the least glamorous part of the job.” Despite the time spent on the road, Vrenko says he never gets sick of driving. “I can’t get enough of it,” he claims. “It’s in my DNA.”

Martindale agrees. “Driving at the limit is the most fun part,” he admits. “I do other things, though, like determine sources of squeaks and rattles or how the steering feels on the highway. It’s our job to evaluate all these attributes to make Ford vehicles the best they can be for our customers.”