Gorilla Glass to be used on Ford GT

Gorilla Glass is to be used by the Ford Motor Company on its upcoming Ford GT sports car’s windshield and rear window.

The new glass will be used on the windshield and rear engine cover of the vehicle and was made by Ford and glass manufacturer Corning Incorporated.

“Gorilla Glass hybrid is a great example of how Ford works with suppliers to innovate in every area of our business”, said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford group vice president, Global Purchasing.

The cost might prove prohibitive for mass-market cars – the GT will cost around $400,000 – but as fuel efficiency standards are ratcheted up, we could see more cars adopt Gorilla Glass to save precious weight and fuel.

You wouldn’t think that Corning Cookware and a Ford GT has a lot in common.

But it’s not the first time that Gorilla Glass has been embraced by the automative industry.

“During development, we tried different glass variations before we found a combination that provided both weight savings and the durability needed for exterior automotive glass”, said Paul Linden, Ford body exteriors engineer, in the press release.

A traditional automotive laminated windshield consists of two layers of annealed glass sandwiched around a clear, thermoplastic interlayer binding agent. It did not shatter like a piece of typical glass.

Gorilla glass is traditionally used to make smartphone screens because it’s light and more resistant to scratches. The 2017 Ford GT has been equipped with a three-layer hybrid windshield with the Corning Gorilla Glass, a thermoplastic interlayer and an annealed glass outer later.

The new technology has already been tested in rough road conditions and had to endure specific projectile, rollover and wind tunnel testing.

An earlier version of Gorilla Glass has been on cars in the past, including on about 100 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda racing cars.

A Gorilla Glass window is 3-4 mm thick while a conventional windshield is 4-6 mm thick.

Initially the hybrid glass was used in Ford’s lightweight concept auto, an experiment in many lightweight materials. It was brought into commercial use when Apple asked Corning for a thin, tough glass that was used on the new iPhone.

Ford says these improvements “positively impact acceleration, fuel economy, and braking performance”.