The all-new Ford Fusion employs green solutions to reduce petroleum-based content with continued use of sustainable materials; from seat fabric to sound-absorbing material. Ford’s all-new Fusion will contain some unexpected materials beneath its aerodynamically fuel-efficient body including denim material equivalent to slightly more than two average-sized pairs of blue jeans, 38.9 clear plastic 16-ounce recycled bottles and about 31,250 soybeans. “Building vehicles with great fuel economy is our highest priority in reducing impact on the environment,” says Carrie Majeske, Ford product sustainability manager. “With every new product design, we also are charged with increasing the use of renewable and recyclable materials in our cars, utilities and trucks to reduce impact on the environment.”

Noise, vibration and harshness are controlled in the 2013 Fusion with post-industrial, recycled cotton used as a sound-absorbing material. The denim equivalent of two pairs of jeans helps to nullify unwanted road, wind and powertrain noise. These two new methods have been paired along with other noise-reducing techniques which have been used by Ford engineers for years. Thus it will provide the customers a quiet, relaxing, driving environment. Fusion’s North American cloth seat surfaces are made with 100 percent REPREVE yarn which is a hybrid of post-industrial and post-consumer waste. Certain fusion models contain cloth seats contain the equivalent of 38.9 recycled, clear 16-ounce plastic bottles.

The foam used in seat cushions, seat backs and head restraints is a soy-based sustainable material, with the equivalent of approximately 31,250 soybeans. The first soy-based foam was used in the Ford Mustang in 2007. The use of soy foam has reduced petroleum production by more than 5 million pounds and carbon dioxide emissions by more than 20 million pounds annually. The 2013 Fusion utilizes plastic made from recycled car battery casings. Annually, these applications on the Fusion utilize close to 2 million pounds of recycled waste. “We are holistic in reducing our environmental footprint by utilizing post-industrial (blue jeans), post-consumer (battery cases) and sustainable materials technologies (soy foam),” Majeske says. “We do whatever makes the most sense for each application and environmentally from a lifecycle perspective.”