Lifeguards zipping through the sand in special beach patrol hybrids riding on Continental tires

Continental’s ContiTrac Eco Plus tires resist getting stuck in sand, a critical factor in their use on a fleet of hybrids designated for lifeguard beach patrol duty.

“The tire’s low rolling resistance compound and unique belt contour improve the vehicles’ fuel efficiency and increase responsiveness and handling,” reports Christian Koetz, Continental’s North American vice president for original equipment. The company is Ford’s primary tire supplier for the hybrid Escape line.

“The selection of a tire supplier and tire specification for compound and tread pattern takes into account a wide range of performance attributes – including dry/wet/snow/offroad grip and traction, noise levels, impact harshness, rolling resistance, heat resistance, electrical resistance, steering capability, braking distance, wear, etcetera,” explains Ron Razzano, Ford’s vehicle engineering manager for the Escape platform.

Razzano tells Tire Topics that “these tires have performed well in our internal offroad testing and are certified for use in this application. The LA Beach Patrol hybrids actually have stock hybrid tires which are similar to their gas counterparts.”

The Escapes will certainly be noticed by the multitudes of swimmers escaping the heat and heading to the beach.

Painted a vibrant yellow – an iconic hue for lifeguards – they are detailed with authoritative graphics and finished off with dark factory-issue wheels.

“The vehicles look amazing, they perform great and they are hybrids, so they are good for the environment,” says Mike Frazer, chief of Lifeguard Services for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “It’s a win, win, win situation for us.”

When it came to the executing the exterior layout, Ford designer Jeff Nield says it was important to make the vehicle appear “fresh but not trendy. We really pushed to make the vehicle look as rugged as possible.”

Nield goes on to note how “these people save lives, so this was not just an exercise in styling. We wanted to design features for them that are functional and could potentially save them valuable time in an emergency situation.”

“We are the largest lifeguard organization in the world, and we have always blazed the trail for the profession,” notes Frazer, recounting the decision to choose the hybrids. “We wanted to be the first public safety agency in the country to go green.”

When beach-testing the Escape, Frazer says he was able to make more precise turns, enjoy extra headroom (he’s 6 feet, five inches tall) and gain greater visibility, which is a huge safety plus in lifeguard patrol situations.

“We need to be able to see as much as possible because there’s so much activity on the beach, especially in the summertime,” he says. “When we’re responding to a rescue, we want to get there quickly and safely.”

The front-wheel-drive Escape hybrid returns 34 mpg in city driving and 30 mpg on the highway. Intelligent four-wheel-drive models, like the ones used by the lifeguards, return 29 mpg city and 27 highway.

“The Escape hybrid is one of the cleanest vehicles available today,” says Freeman Thomas, a Ford design director whose studio developed the outfitting of the lifeguard vehicles. “It meets California’s strict Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (PZEV) standard,” he adds. “To put it in a California summer context, it releases fewer smog-forming emissions into the atmosphere during a three-hour drive (about 180 miles) than grilling one hamburger in your back yard.”

Frazer says he knew the hybrid Escape was an ideal choice from an environmental standpoint, but he admits to having some initial reservations about whether an SUV would function as well on the beach as the compact pickup trucks the lifeguards were used to driving.

“The switch from a pickup to an SUV was something new to us, but when Ford brought the Escape Hybrid down to the beach, we were amazed at how well it performed,” he said, adding that he was particularly surprised by the vehicle’s ability to navigate through the sand – riding on the ContiTrac Eco Plus tires – without getting stuck.

Shortly after that initial field test, a team of designers from Ford's Irvine studio visited the beach to do a little “guerrilla research,” Nield recalls.

Careful inspection of the previous trucks the lifeguards were using revealed various makeshift storage areas for critical equipment. “What happened in the past is that different lifeguards would set vehicles up differently, so if you worked at one beach and then got called in a crisis to another location, you would have to search to find the emergency tools you needed because the storage area was not standardized,” he says.

The Ford designers decided to remove 60 percent of the rear seat on the driver’s side and replace it with a rescue equipment storage unit – an aluminum box with specially designated spaces for important emergency equipment, such as defibrillators, trauma boxes and oxygen tanks.

The remaining 40 percent of the seat was left intact in case the lifeguards had to transport someone, such as a lost child.

According to Ford Design Project Manager Greg Hutting, the lifeguards’ multiple radios also presented the design team with a challenge.

“In the previous vehicle, they had three or four different radios pushed wherever they had room,” he says. “We pulled out the center console and replaced it with a radio rack that keeps all of their equipment lined up and organized.”

Ford designers also outfitted the Escapes with a custom-fit roof rack for the lifeguards’ paddle board and spine board, and easy-to-clean rubber floor mats and cargo liners.

“The lifeguards are going to be pushing these vehicles to the limit, and they need the best vehicle to get the job done,” Nield notes.

For more information, visit www.continentaltire.com or www.ford.com.