[whalesalad]

Interesting that the front windshield only has about 50-60% usable space. On the top this makes sense, as the black coating acts as a sun shade. On the bottom... there goes all the visibility gained by having the low hood. wtf?

The upfitter AUX switches appear to be Ford, same for the AC controls.

[starkparker]

> The upfitter AUX switches appear to be Ford, same for the AC controls.

Ford supplies the ICE engine, transmission, suspension, steering wheel, and instrument cluster, so that tracks. https://fordauthority.com/2024/10/new-usps-mail-carrier-uses...

[cooljoseph]

The camera is positioned so that the side window is visible through the front windshield. I think the "black coating" you are seeing is just the interior of the van, and that the entire front windshield is usable.

[ceejayoz]

The final photo in the article appears to show pretty good forward visiblity. Seems fine?

[justsomehnguy]

My $5 it's the usual 'too late to change'. Compare with the 2021 version.

Also the if you trace LoS in the cabin pic in the article you would find what the driver wouldn't see more of the hood because he need to be sat quite a lot higher (up to 20cm I think) to gain the view you are thinking of. And this is incompatible with 'do the mailman thing without getting out of chair'.

https://www.nalc.org/news/the-postal-record/2021/may-2021/do...

[jacobgkau]

> On the bottom... there goes all the visibility gained by having the low hood. wtf?

That is a little weird, now that I look at it again. But the way you'd use the rest of that bottom space would be by lowering the driver, basically, and that would mean the driver's not as high up over the hood. So maybe getting the higher angle gains more visibility than having them sit lower just to maximize usable windshield area? (The only way you could have both is if the dashboard was transparent.)