The 2008 Escape is the first U.S. automotive application of 100 percent recycled fabric seating surfaces. The new fabric, supplied by Interface Fabrics, Inc., significantly exceeds Ford's internal target of introducing seating fabrics with 25 percent recycled content into production by 2009.
The fabric Ford uses is produced from 100 percent post-industrial materials - defined as anything intended for retail use but never makes it to the consumer. This can be anything from plastic intended for pop bottles to un-dyed polyester fibers that don't make the cut for consumer use.
This plastic and polyester is processed, spun into yarn, dyed and woven into seat fabric. Recycling waste otherwise intended for landfills has obvious environmental benefits. Interface Fabrics estimates that Ford's use of post-industrial recycled materials, rather than virgin fibers, could also:
• Conserve an estimated 600,000 gallons of water
•Conserve an estimated 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents
•Conserve the equivalent of more than 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity
The Ford Escape Hybrid was the first full-hybrid SUV built in and available for sale in America, and it remains the most fuel-efficient SUV on the planet.