Ford News Blog

Soy-based Seating Foam

The Ford Mustang debuted the auto industry's first soy-based seat foam, replacing petroleum-based foam. The eco-friendly technology is now featured in the 2008 Ford F-150, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator and will be in the 2009 Ford Escape.

Ford's experiments with soybeans aren't new. Writes the Soy Info Center,

Henry Ford, born 30 July 1863 on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, was one of America's foremost soybean and soyfood pioneers. From the late 1920s until many years after his death in 1947, Ford's name was closely linked with soybeans, for he developed a host of new ways to use the crop industrially and was one of the most creative of the original soyfoods pioneers. In those days when soyfoods were not yet respectable (are they yet?), Ford had to take a lot of abuse and become the butt of many jokes and newspaper cartoons for his firm belief in the soybean. A man of great vision and influence, Ford and his huge publicity machine, plus his unique ability to attract media attention, gave soybeans and soyfoods extensive and exciting nationwide publicity. He reached both farmers and the general public in an area when soy was still largely unknown.

Posted on 7/21/2009 01:01:00 AM