when did ford explorer change to front wheel drive
Ford Explorer Intended as the replacement for the Ford Bronco II, the Ford Explorer was introduced in both two-door (the Ford Explorer Sport, also sold as the 1991-1994 Mazda Navajo) and four-door body styles, with the latter being the first four-door Ford SUV. Following the 2002 introduction of the third-generation Explorer, the Ford Explorer Sport was discontinued after the 2003 model year. The Ford Explorer Sport Trac is a mid-size pickup truck based upon two generations of the four-door style from 2001 to 2010. It was sold with several powertrain configurations. Along with two-wheel drive (rear-wheel drive 1991-2010; front-wheel drive 2011-present), part-time four-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive are options. Since 1995, part-time four-wheel drive has been a 'shift on the fly' system with full protection against being engaged at high speed.
Front-wheel drive Experiments with front-wheel-drive cars date to the early days of the automobile. According to various sources, sometime between 1895 and 1898 Gräf & Stift built a voiturette with a one-cylinder De Dion-Bouton engine fitted in the front of the vehicle, powering the front axle. It was thus arguably the world's first front-wheel-drive automobile, but it never saw mass production, with only one copy ever made. In 1898, Latil, in France, devised a front-wheel-drive system for motorising horse-drawn carts.