Michigan State Police Testing for 2023 Models

By Brad Brewer

Afew months ago, the Michigan State Police (MSP) conducted its annual testing of police vehicles and police motorcycles. The following month, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department (LASD) also conducted its annual vehicle testing. The MSP event runs over four days and takes place at several unique locations in Michigan, depending on the specific tests being performed.

The vehicle acceleration, top speed, and braking tests are performed at the Chelsea Proving Grounds. This 4.7mile 140 mph neutral steer banked oval provides the appropriate space to obtain accurate test results at top speeds. The ABS brake test is also performed at the Chelsea Proving Grounds. Both the motorcycle and vehicle dynamics testing are performed at Grattan Raceway.

It is also appropriate to put in context as to why these vehicle tests are conducted and why they are so valuable to Law Enforcement across North America when they evaluate police vehicles to purchase.

MSP and LASD are not governing bodies that decide which vehicles get blessed with the sacred description of “Pursuit Rated”; that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both these agencies have a long history of testing vehicles designed for use in the rigorous environment that is frontline policing. It is the nature of the job that requires frontline officers to do extraordinary things to keep the public safe. When officers are forced to escalate to high-risk activities, their vehicle must be able to perform consistently at a high level with a non-existent failure rate.

At some point in every annual budget meeting, most Fleet Managers have had to justify the costs of a “Pursuit Rated” vehicle over a retail vehicle. Inevitably, someone in local government will ask the question “What does ‘Pursuit Rated’ actually mean?” The reality is no one can really define the term “Pursuit Rated” or give a specific vehicle that official designation. This is an excerpt from the

MSP Annual Report, which appropriately explains the rating:

The term ‘pursuit capable’ is more appropriate as there is no sanctioning body, or specific performance criteria, to determine if the vehicle meets a specialized designation. Each vehicle has been modified from a civilian vehicle to perform better under the rigors of police use. These vehicles are engineered to repetitively stop in a shorter distance, accelerate faster, and handle better than the base platform. Modifications to engines, cooling systems, transmissions and shifting parameters, brakes, tires, stability control programming, and other changes may all be included as part of the manufacturer’s police package.

The MSP has performance criteria attached to its purchasing specifications. The criteria have historically been that a vehicle must accelerate from 0–60 mph in 9.0 seconds, 0–80 mph in 14.9 seconds, and 0–100 mph in 24.6 seconds. The vehicle must reach 110 mph in 4,838 feet and 120 mph in 8,985 feet. The vehicle must maintain an average deceleration rate of 25.79 ft/sec2 while performing twenty 60–0 mph threshold braking stops. The vehicle must also successfully complete all 32 laps of the Grattan Raceway dynamics testing without major component failure. Meeting these criteria does not certify a vehicle as being ‘pursuit rated’; rather, it justifies a vehicle is capable of performing the job function the MSP requires in a police vehicle. When reading the testing results, it is up to each agency to determine if the vehicle is suitable for the mission of their agency.

Fleet Managers must be aware the MSP tests are different from their counterparts out west at the LA County Sherriff’s (LASD) vehicle test, which is also run annually. MSP is a fullservice agency that devotes a lot of time to freeway patrol depending on the geographical area being patrolled. As such, they devote considerable resources to highway traffic patrol. Therefore, performance at freeway speeds is important to them and their testing reflects that. MSP tests all vehicles for top speed; since today’s vehicles are most often speed limited by software, it’s a simple verification of the manufacturers’ claims. Essentially, MSP wants to know, will it hit the advertised speed?

The top speed testing methodology is designed to follow the fourth acceleration run; each test vehicle continues to accelerate to the top speed attainable within 14 miles from the start of the run.

The highest speed attained within the 14mile distance is considered the vehicle’s top speed.

Unlike MSP, LASD puts 400 pounds of weight in the back of each SUV tested. LASD believes no police department would ever deploy an empty vehicle so why not test as it would likely be deployed in the real world. MSP does not add extra weight to any of the tested vehicles. MSP is testing the vehicle to verify it can meet their specific requirements and the advertised claims of the manufacturer.

During the 0–60 mph brake testing, the MSP allows each vehicle to have fresh burnished brakes (new pads and rotors); they do not require the vehicle to have been driven at all before the brakes are evaluated. The LASD method involves the vehicles being driven hard and the brakes are hot before the brakes are tested.

The MSP test begins with ‘cold’ brakes. The first five stops are performed in a southbound direction, and the second set of stops in a northbound direction across the same surface. Once 10 stops are performed, the vehicle is driven 3.2 miles at 45 mph to allow the brakes to cool before the second sequence. After the cooling distance, the 10 stops are repeated. The exact initial velocity at the beginning of each of the 60–0 mph decelerations, and the exact distance required to make each stop, is recorded by means of a RaceLogic Vbox 3i GPS based data collection unit.

For this year’s test of the 2023 model year vehicles, MSP tested 13 vehicles: The Chevrolet PPV Tahoe 5.3L RWD and 5.3L AWD; the Chevrolet Silverado Z7X 4WD and Z71 4WD; the Dodge Durango AWD Pursuit V-6 and V-8; the Ford PI Utility AWD 3.3L, AWD 3.0L EcoBoost, and AWD Hybrid; the Dodge Charger 3.6L AWD, Charger 5.7L RWD; the Ford F-150 Police Responder. This was the second year for the Ford Mach-e All Electric vehicle to be tested at MSP. The 2023 Chevrolet Blazer PPV was not tested this year as it is still in the protype phase of development.

Most of the vehicles submitted were carryovers from last year’s test with the only new entry being the Chevrolet Silverado Z7X and Z71 PPV Pursuit. Customers got to see these new pursuit pickups, last August, at the police fleet show in Austin, Texas, but this year was the first for them to be put through the MSP testing process.

The Chevrolet Silverado Z71 PPV is the only Pursuit pickup with an optional 2-inch lift kit available. It’s running the standard 5.3L V8 engine with 355HP and Dynamic Fuel Management system.

The Silverado PPV has a Police specific tuned 10 Speed transmission with unique Stabilitrack police tuning as well. The wheels are black 20-inch steel to complement the enormous 16-inch police special rotors and Brembo 6 piston calipers. Those massive brakes allowed the Silverado PPV to average 140 ft stopping distance upon deceleration from 60 mph. The Silverado PPV had a respectable top speed of 112 mph and had a 0–100 mph of 18.87 seconds (Z7X) and 18.70 seconds (Z71).

The Ford Lightning SSV was not tested at this year’s event. The Ford Mach-E GT version was Ford’s only electric submission, which features an all-wheeldrive (AWD) configuration and the Mach-E GT’s powertrain, which means that it utilizes dual permanent magnetic motors, including an upgraded secondary electric motor that powers the front wheels for a combined output of 480 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. Ford projects that the Mach-E GT will do

0–60 mph in 3.8 seconds and achieve an EPA-estimated 270 miles of range. Law Enforcement use will likely change these figures, and so will weather and equipment demands. It will be interesting to see the results after NYPD has their fleet of 160 deployed for a year in the field.

MSP drivers managed to do 0–60 in 3.93 seconds flat and hit 100 mph in 12.23 seconds in the Mach-E. Contrary to popular belief, the Mach-E test vehicle only had Police graphics; it did not have extra police lighting or equipment during the test. The Mach-E hit 122 mph in two miles, and after 18 miles of high-speed track testing, the Mach-E USED 30% charge on each run, it wasn’t down to 30% charge left in the battery (i.e., it went from 80% down to 50% over the eight laps).

Likely, the heat on the electric motors is the reason for the diminishing speed after the five fastest laps. Charging was