‘It’s All in There’: Employees Give All-New 2025 Ford Expedition a Big Thumbs-Up

Seventy-five lucky employees got to attend the unveiling of the all-new 2025 Ford Expedition and got an exclusive briefing from the team members who developed it. Expedition Chief Program Engineer Adrian Aguirre said, “It’s taking the capabilities up a level, and we see a lot of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as soon as they get inside.”

What elicited those ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’? For design and release engineer Jennifer Laz, there were a lot of great surprises, but she says her favorites features emphasize family time, such as the new Ford Split Gate (three-quarters of Expedition’s rear gate raises like a traditional liftgate while the lower quarter folds down like a traditional pickup truck tailgate) and available Cargo Tailgate Manager, which transforms Expedition’s tailgate into a serving table.

Laz said, “My kids are going to like the screens on the backs of the seats and that they have the charging points right there and accessible for all of them. And my son usually gets the third row next to all the skis on the Up North trips, so he is going to be happy that it’s all in there. And then there’s a tie-down over the center console to keep everything in place so it’s not falling over on him.”

Design and Release Engineer John Dryden enjoyed the thoughtful touches of the all-new Expedition such as the Flex Powered Console. “My wife told me that one thing that automakers don’t think about is women with big bags,” he said. “When I pushed that button, I thought, ‘wow, my wife would love that.’ I think Ford did a lot right with this vehicle.”

Varun Rufus, a feature apps and validation engineer, checked software for several features on the all-new Expedition, such as BlueCruise, Ford’s hands-free highway driving technology, which is available on nearly 90% of the Expedition lineup, for almost two years. Another “futuristic” feature Rufus worked on was available Open-on-Approach, a feature that automatically opens the Ford Split Gate when the key fob is present near the back of the vehicle for a few seconds. The technology also includes a safeguard that prevents it from opening into surrounding walls or ceilings.

“It’s a really great feature when you have too many things in your hands or if you back in, even in a garage space, it still opens up perfectly fine without hitting the sidewalls,” he said. “That’s another really great feature that every customer could appreciate.”

The all-new 2025 Ford Expedition is assembled at Ford’s Kentucky Assembly Plant. It is available in Platinum, King Ranch, TREMOR, and Active trim series. Ordering begins Oct. 24, and it will be on dealer lots next spring.