Ford Decides to Make Burnouts Easier for Mustang EcoBoost Owners

In a move that will make my next rental car choice slightly more difficult, Ford has decided to equip the entirety of its Mustang lineup with electronic line locks as a standard feature. While the technology has become almost ubiquitous among V8-powered American muscle cars, it’s a welcome addition to the smaller-displacement models.

Now, more hooligans can undertake longer, safer, more glorious burnouts without abusing their rear brake pads — be it while warming the tires at the drag strip or just showing off for dumb friends in a parking lot. Hopefully, the good people at Avis don’t mind losing a little tread on the rear tires.

Wanting to promote that its base model muscle cars have been idiot-proofed in preparation for laying a patch of molten rubber, Ford recruited Formula D champion Vaughn Gittin to go around Southern California and “randomly recruit” pedestrians to show off the new standard feature.

“Burnouts just never get old, no matter how old you are and how many times you’ve done them,” Gittin said statement. “Who would have thought that we would see an EcoBoost Mustang producing 15 seconds of fury like this? You’ve got to love these rad things Ford is doing.”

While Ford specified that the line lock should be especially useful for those interested in bracket racing, Gittin’s lunchtime abduction of random passers-by indicates the technology has plenty of unofficial applications. In fact, the promotional video for the technology opens with the text, “You could use a burnout in a 2018 EcoBoost Mustang,” and one of the hand-picked pedestrians calls the opportunity to do a burnout “a dream come true.”

“We introduced line-lock on EcoBoost Mustangs because we didn’t want those customers to miss out,” said Mark Schaller, Ford’s Mustang marketing manager. “The number of people choosing EcoBoost power continues to grow globally, and with the increased torque and new features coming on the new Mustang, customers will not be disappointed.”

It’s definitely gimmicky, but it’s also a perfect addition to American muscle cars.

Available on both the 10-speed automatic and 6-speed manual, the electronic line lock is a little more complicated to use than aftermarket units found in drag cars. Operators are required to pre-select the feature by going into a menu on the instrument cluster and scrolling through the track apps. Afterwards, it functions more or less as expected. However, the feature only holds onto the front brake calipers for 15 seconds, meaning you might have to re-engage system a few times or go old school and introduce a little brake pressure with the left foot if you are planning to completely destroy the rear tires.

That’s something I would only recommend in a rental, though.