How does Ford measure its interiors? Ping pong balls.

AutoBlog: How does Ford measure its interiors? Ping pong balls.

A ping-pong ball has a volume of about 2 cubic inches, and a 2013 Ford Escape holds nearly 60,000. Why is this important? Ford uses the balls to measure vehicle interior capacity for both its own cars and competitors'. Of course, there are traditional measuring tools that you'd expect Ford engineers and designers to use, but it's been hard to do anything but estimate the amount of space in oddly-shaped locations like glove compartments and door pockets.

Ford says ping-pong balls deliver better accuracy than more tedious measurement techniques, and its engineers have also figured out how to measure the volume of the space between balls.

So while an image like the one you see above might initially look like the work of pranksters, it's just Ford's engineers getting better measuremenents than ever before. Keep reading for the full scoop.