Ford is reporting that engineers developing the Transit Custom slammed the van's doors more than 550,000 times to make sure that it can withstand day-to-day usage.
Transit Custom's front doors were shut 250,000 times, the sliding side door 150,000 times, and the rear cargo door 150,000 times at a test facility where temperatures range from -40°C to 82°C, with 85% humidity.
The 250,000 front door slams compare to 84,000 slams delivered by the equivalent car test – reflecting the greater frequency of door-use and tougher treatment of working vans, according to Barry Gale, Ford's chief commercial vehicle engineer, based at the Dunton Technical Centre, in Essex.
"This is a modern-day torture test – more than half-a-million slams in everything from tropical heat to Arctic cold," he says.
The 550,000 door-slam test is just one of a range of test procedures Ford has used to make sure the vehicle further enhances Transit's reputation for reliability.