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Ford redesigned 2008 models feature recycled seating

Ford redesigned 2008 models feature recycled seating
Redesigned 2008 Ford Escape and Escape Hybrid vehicles are believed to be the first U.S. automotive industry applications of 100 percent recycled fabric seating surfaces. The new fabric significantly exceeds Ford’s internal target of introducing seating fabrics with 25 percent recycled content into production by 2009. “Using more sustainable fabric in production vehicles is yet another step in Ford Motor Company’s journey to long-term sustainability,” says Lisa Nicol, a designer for Ford Color and Materials – Sustainability. “Given the time and effort required to source, design and validate a new seat fabric, it’s a significant achievement to beat both our recycled-content target and our calendar deadline.” The fabric on the Escape’s seats is produced from 100 percent post-industrial waste, defined as anything intended for retail use, but which never makes it to the consumer. That can be anything from plastic intended for pop bottles to undyed polyester fibres that don’t make the cut for consumer use.

The plastic and polyester are processed, spun into yarn, dyed and woven into seat fabric. The fabric is in some cases less expensive than comparable fabric made from virgin fibres.

Recycling waste otherwise intended for landfills has obvious environmental ben-efits. InterfaceFABRIC, the Atlanta-based supplier of the fabric, estimates that Ford’s use of post-industrial recycled materials, rather than virgin fibres, will conserve annually: 600,000 gallons of water, 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents, and the equivalent of more than seven million kilowatt hours of electricity In selecting the fabric, Nicol said she was impressed by InterfaceFABRIC’s commitment to corporate sustainability and by the fabric’s quality and appearance.

Because of this, Ford’s Color and Materials team worked with a team of designers from InterfaceFABRIC who had automotive backgrounds to develop the material used in the 2008 Escape. Like every new fabric, the InterfaceFABRIC was subjected to a battery of tests including wear and tear, seam strength, colour consistency, fade resistance and even odour evaluations to look for that “new-car smell”. Ford estimates that, eventually, more than 80,000 of its vehicles will feature the fabric.