Ford Motor Company has developed some well-known police vehicles over the years. The Ford Crown Victoria may be the most recognized and most widely used police cruiser of all time. There’s also a recent  Mustang set up with a police package. But the latest from Ford certainly may be the most innovative. It definitely has a new twist. Ford’s new Police Interceptor Utility includes enhanced software. It will heat the passenger compartment to temperatures found out in Death Valley. Well over 130 degrees. That kind of heat can kill. That’s the idea. That level of heat maintained over about 15 minutes can reduce the viral concentration inside the vehicle by up to 99 percent. In other words, Ford engineers have come up with a COVID-19 virus killing machine. The software package offered on the new Interceptor can also be retrofit into Ford’s Utility Interceptors going back to 2013. The package is available today.

Ford’s engineers obviously didn’t waste much time putting this together, considering the virus outbreak didn’t make itself known as a real issue until mid-March. Ford didn’t really knuckle down on the project until the end of March. Just 8 weeks ago. What the engineering team came up with is a unique way to use the Interceptor’s power train and climate controls in a way no one had even imagined before. Ford describes the process like this. The software warms up the engine to an elevated level, and both heat and fan settings operate on high. The software automatically monitors interior temperatures until the entire passenger compartment hits the optimal level, then that temperature is maintained for 15 minutes. And poof – the virus is essentially inactivated.

The software also controls the Interceptors hazard and tail lights to give visible signals of the process starting, in process, and cooled down and the Interceptor ready for re-entry. Ford has already completed successful field trials, including with the Michigan State Police.

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