2017 Ford Fusion’s Rotary Dial and Return to Park Feature
The 2017 Ford Fusion features Ford’s rotary dial and when designing the new 2017 Fusion, Ford engineers decided to develop a feature that would address the problem of rollaways by designing smart software to assist the driver and reduce the potential for accidents under certain conditions. Ford’s innovative Return to Park technology uses data from the vehicle’s extensive network of sensors to detect conditions that indicate the driver’s intent to exit the vehicle.
Drivers of the new 2017 Ford Fusion will have peace of mind that their Fusion will select Park even when they forget to turn the dial to “P” or accidentally leave the car in another gear when parking. 
The system can detect that a driver has turned their vehicle off while moving and will first shift into neutral until it slows down below 5 mph before shifting into park automatically. The feature is also designed not to operate if it detects the belted driver opens the door while the vehicle is moving and it is also designed not to operate when the Fusion is in ‘Stay in Neutral’ or ‘Neutral Tow’ modes.
According to a National Highway Transportation Administration study published this year, a total of 360 people were killed in accidents involving unattended vehicles with no driver control between 2012 and 2014.
Read More on the 2017 Ford Fusion from Heritage Ford
How Does Return to Park Work?
The rotary gear shift dial has three different electronic modules monitoring the transmission and shifter. It is the same system that is capable of detecting and overriding other unintended scenarios such as shifting into reverse while driving at speeds above 5 mph. The technology is designed to automatically shift your vehicle into ‘park’ when any of the following conditions occur.
- You turn the vehicle off
- You open the driver’s door with your safety belt unlatched and the vehicle is stationary
- Your safety belt is unlatched while the driver’s door is open and the vehicle is stationary
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Rotary gear shift dial with Return to Park is a standard feature on all 2017 Ford Fusion vehicles. If you are interested in scheduling a test drive for the 2017 Ford Fusion please contact us at Heritage Ford, where you can try out the new Return to Park feature.