The Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego also earned the
maximum five-star ratings from the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA), earning their recognition as
safety leaders and to be named the safest full-size sedans
in America.
"These recognitions are a result of Ford's ongoing efforts
in offering a better and safer driving experience," said
Hussein Murad, Sales and Marketing director of Ford Middle
East. "Ford is leading the industry in standardizing new
safety technologies for millions of customers, including the
industry’s first three-point safety belts;
multiple-deployment air bags and the most advanced stability
control system on the market."
A car crash happens in the blink of an eye -- 300
milliseconds, or about a third of a second, from start to
finish. And for this reason, a car's safety system becomes
prime consideration.
Ford is doing more to make its vehicles top performers in
safety with the following:
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Electronic Stability
Control (ESC) -- Ford Motor Company and its global
brands have built 4 million vehicles globally with
electronic stability control systems. Electronic
stability control offers additional confidence to
drivers in emergency situations by helping them stay on
the road and avoid accidents. It significantly reduces
crash risk by helping drivers maintain control of their
vehicles during emergency maneuvers. Ford Motor Company
will build all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury retail cars and
trucks with standard electronic stability control (ESC)
by the end of 2009. Ford already is a world leader in
the technology, with ESC currently standard on all Ford
mid- and full-size SUVs, and standard ESC expanded to
small SUVs and all CUVs this year.
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AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll Stability Control) -- The only available electronic stability control system with two gyroscopic effect sensors measure vehicle motion about both the Yaw and Roll axes. More than 1 million vehicles feature Ford’s industry exclusive AdvanceTrac with RSC (Roll Stability Control). Ford Motor Company today has more than 80 patents worldwide for its innovative RSC system. RSC features roll-rate sensing and stability enhancement capability, offering assistance to the driver in maintaining vehicle control during extreme maneuvers. The system automatically engages counter measures to help the driver maintain maximum control and reduce the risk of rollover. Ford has licensed and continues to make this groundbreaking technology available to suppliers who are expected to provide it to competitive automakers.
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Safety Canopy™ -- Ford’s exclusive collision and rollover activated side curtain air bags feature "roll fold" technology. Ford was the first in the industry to offer rollover deploying side curtain air bags, known as Safety Canopy, beginning with the Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer in 2002. Today, Safety Canopy with rollover sensors -- which helps protect vehicle occupants during side-impact collisions and rollover accidents -- is available on nearly all Ford Motor Company SUVs, and on certain vans and cars, including the 2008 Taurus and Mercury Sable, as well as the Taurus X crossover.
By the 2010 model year, all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury retail SUVs, crossovers, vans and trucks are planned to have standard Safety Canopy. Ford Motor now has nearly 1.5 million vehicles on the road with Safety Canopy rollover-activated curtains.
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Ford’s BeltMinder™
-- BeltMinder is a safety belt reminder technology first
offered in 1999 that takes over after the initial safety
belt reminder stops chiming. If the driver remains
unbuckled, the system chimes and flashes a warning lamp
for six seconds every 30 seconds for five minutes or
until the driver buckles up, whichever comes first. Ford
first offered driver-side BeltMinder at no cost to
customers in 1999. Ford has licensed its BeltMinder
technology to four other vehicle manufacturers at no
cost. Ford’s BeltMinder system now has been expanded to
cover right front-passengers in all vehicles equipped
with Ford’s Personal Safety System. Data show that
BeltMinder works. Research conducted by the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety showed that safety belt use
was 5 percentage points higher in vehicles with
BeltMinder. It's a simple reminder that can make a great
difference in saving lives.
-
Tire Pressure
Monitoring System (TPMS) -- Ford's TPMS system warns
a driver if one or more tires are underinflated. An
active pressure sensor with a radio transmitter is
mounted inside each tire. A receiver in the vehicle
monitors each transmitter, and if tire pressure is not
within specific limits, it will activate a visual
warning light and message in vehicles equipped with a
message center.
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“SPACE™
Architecture” -- Ford’s Side Protection and Cabin
Enhancement architecture (SPACE) was first introduced on
the Ford Taurus and will be standard on the all-new Ford
Flex. It is designed to help channel crash forces using
strategically placed steel rails and square tubes under
the car body, the vertical door posts (“B-pillars”), in
between the front and rear seats, and in the front
diagonal posts (“A-pillars”). The rails are designed to
bend and the tubes compress in a severe crash. This
creates 10 different crush zones in different parts of
the car to help channel crash forces away from the
occupants inside.
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More IIHS Top
Safety Picks in 2007 Than Ever Before -- The 2008
Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable, Taurus X, Ford Edge and
Lincoln MKX all earned Top Safety Picks from the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for
achieving the highest available individual ratings in
front-, side- and rear-impact crash protection. Taurus,
Sable and Taurus X also earned the highest possible
five-star crash test ratings from the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
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Occupant
Classification System -- An advanced air bag
controller uses front passenger classification sensing
to determine if the seat is occupied, and if so, whether
the passenger is a larger or smaller person. Air bag
deployment is tailored -- or altogether suppressed -- to
help provide an appropriate level of protection.
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Research Tools:
VIRTTEX and Servo Sled -- Ford’s VIRTTEX (Virtual Test
Track Experience) is one of the most advanced
laboratories of its kind in the world. Since 2000, Ford
Motor Company has used the controlled laboratory setting
to study everyday driving tasks and how they affect
driver performance during a variety of simulated driving
experiences. Ford’s state-of-the-art Servo-Hydraulic
Reverse Crash Simulator is the first in the world to
feature the full combination of simulation capabilities:
frontal crashes in both pitching and non-pitching modes,
rear crashes, and side impacts in both destructive and
non-destructive modes. The Servo sled accurately
simulates real-world collisions by providing the same
dynamics of a vehicle crash test without destroying the
test device. This allows more testing in a given time
period compared with other automakers, and enables Ford
to more quickly bring safety features to market.
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Adaptive Front
Lighting -- Ford’s Adaptive Front Lighting system,
already available on the Lincoln MKX, features swiveling
headlights that follow the curves in the road, which are
measured and analyzed using a mini-processor to optimize
lighting. The headlights can swivel up to 15 degrees in
each direction, and have the capacity to illuminate a
longer distance when the road is winding. The angle of
the headlights adjusts to variables such as vehicle
load, acceleration and braking to help avoid headlights
shining into oncoming road users. The headlights are
cleaned by an electro-mechanical, high-pressure system
that washes one headlight at a time to offer excellent
illumination.
-
Advanced Crash Dummies
-- Ford is making its crash test dummies more lifelike
to better understand how injuries occur. The company’s
new lifelike child dummy even has advanced technologies
in the stomach to duplicate abdominal injuries – the
most common for young occupants – especially those who
don’t wear safety belts properly.
