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22 percent include adaptive cruise control with forward collision warning, active park assist and rain-sensing wipers
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40 percent include BLIS® (Blind Spot Information System) with cross-traffic alert
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87 percent include rear view camera
Posts Tagged ‘IIHS
Here’s some very good news for Ford: Its small, hip 2011 Fiesta minicar has won Top Safety Pick status from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That’s a big deal any time, but especially when you’re trying to hawk a small car.
The ratings of “good” in all the crash tests were given to the Fiesta sedan and hatchback. Ford says now it has more Top Safety Picks than any other automaker, with eight vehicles getting the top designation.
Ford credits Fiesta’s extensive use of high-strength steels, a front crash structure and the most air bags in its segment helped the car perform well in IIHS testing. It even has a driver’s knee air bag. Fiesta’s energy-absorbing body structure is optimized for strength and stiffness and designed to absorb and redirect crash forces away from the passenger compartment. It didn’t hurt that electronic stabllity control is standard.
“Fiesta is proof that a small car can deliver big safety,” said Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering. “Fiesta combines rigidity and more air bags – smartly deployed – than its competition, as well as standard stability control.”
More than half of Fiesta’s body structure uses these high-strength or ultrahigh-strength steels in the floor structure, front rails, beams and in the ultrarigid, integrated body reinforcement ring designed to help better protect occupants in side impacts.
The air bags don’t just explosively inflate. The car has Passenger Occupant Detection System (PODS) sensors that determine occupant weight and seat belt status to optimize deployment force.
DEARBORN, Mich., Dec., 2009 – The strong-selling new 2010 Ford Taurus has earned top five-star crash ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is seeing good consumer response to its suite of advanced crash-avoidance technologies.
The redesigned Ford flagship sedan previously earned a “Top Safety Pick” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Ford Motor Company has more IIHS “Top Safety Picks” and NHTSA five-star ratings than any other automaker.
“The new Taurus is the Ford safety flagship with top safety ratings and advanced crash-protection and crash-avoidance technologies that you may not find in luxury vehicles that cost twice as much,” said Sue Cischke, group vice president for Ford Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. “A stiffer body structure and new crash-avoidance technologies make the Taurus even safer.”
Continue reading ‘2010 Ford Taurus secures Five Stars from NHTSA due to Car Safety Technology’
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is responsible for crash-testing new vehicle models and reporting the results to help consumers make safer vehicle choices. Models that score exceptionally well in IIHS crash tests are given a “Top Safety Pick” award for their impact performance. It’s a designation which indicates a car, truck or SUV that goes above and beyond when it comes to occupant protection.
In light of recent testing of their 2009 models, it’s Ford Motor Company that’s earned more Top Safety Pick ratings form the institute than any other automaker, with a total of 16 vehicles to date. The announcement means that Ford’s surpassed their closest rival, Honda, this week.
Achieving the “Top Safety Pick” rating requires a vehicle to achieve top marks in front, side and rear impact testing, while also being sold with standard electronic stability control to help prevent a crash from occurring in the first place.
Most recently, the 2009 Ford Flex and Fusion models earned the rating from the IIHS, as did the Lincoln MKS and Mercury Milan. Ford partly credits extensive use of ultra-high strength boron steel in their B-Pillar for side impact protection.
Susan Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, comments “leading the industry in ‘Top Safety Picks’ is great news, because IIHS tests are some of the most demanding conducted outside of our own laboratories, and customers are increasingly relying on them when choosing a new vehicle”.
We expect media coverage Wednesday after the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issues a study which claims that strengthening a vehicle’s roof reduces injury risk. Various SUVs, including the Ford Explorer, will be mentioned.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is issuing a statement (full copy below) that calls the report flawed and not helpful in NHTSA’s current rulemaking process.
NHTSA is scheduled to issue its final rule on roof strength this summer. Ford and other automakers have been supportive of NHTSA’s efforts related to the roof strength issue.
Ford is not issuing a statement as we, along with other manufacturers, are supporting the Alliance’s statement. However, below are key messages on some of our leading safety technologies that can assist you with any customer or media inquiries:
Key Messages
· Ford has pioneered advanced air bags and stability control, today offering systems as standard equipment on millions of vehicles.
· Ford’s AdvanceTrac with RSC has the industry’s only roll sensing system that helps detect and prevent dangerous rollovers.
· Millions of Ford vehicles have the system today that by 2010 will be available – mostly as standard equipment – on 5 million vehicles, while stability control systems (including RSC) will be available on 6 million Ford Motor Company cars, utilities and trucks.
· Ford’s Safety Canopy side air curtain was the industry first application of a rollover activated curtain system, beginning with the 2002-1/2 Explorer Mountaineer.
Safety Canopy™
Ford was the first in the industry to offer rollover deploying side curtain air bags, known as Safety Canopy™, beginning with the 2002-1/2 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer.
· Today, the Safety Canopy™ with rollover sensors – which helps protect vehicle occupants during side impact collisions and rollover accidents – is standard on nearly all Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Volvo and Land Rover SUVs, and on certain cars. By the 2010 model year, all of our retail trucks and SUVs will have standard Safety Canopy™ with rollover sensors. It also will be standard on some passenger sedans.
· Safety Canopy™ is standard equipment on the 2008 Ford Escape, Edge, Explorer, Expedition, Sport Trac and Taurus, Lincoln Navigator and MKX, Mercury Mariner, Mountaineer, Sable, Volvo C70 and XC90, Mazda CX7 and CX9, Land Rover LR3, LR2 and Range Rover Sport.
· Safety Canopy will be standard on the 2009 Ford F-150 and Flex, as well as the 2009 Lincoln MKS.
AdvanceTrac© with Roll Stability Control™
Ford’s first application of electronic stability control debuted on the 2000 model year Lincoln LS. To help further mitigate rollover accidents, Ford Motor Company offers AdvanceTrac© with Roll Stability Control™ – an industry first which takes standard electronic stability control systems to a new dimension by using gyroscopic-effect rate sensors for both yaw and roll axes to sense unstable conditions and apply countermeasures to help the driver maintain control.
· The 2003 Volvo XC90 was the first SUV to feature standard AdvanceTrac with Roll Stability Control™. By the end of 2010, Ford Motor Company and its family of brands will have nearly 5 million vehicles on the road equipped with RSC, and more than 6 million with some form of electronic stability control.
· AdvanceTrac© with Roll Stability Control™ is standard equipment on most 2008 Ford Motor Company SUVs, including Escape (gas engines), Edge, Explorer and Expedition, Sport Trac, Lincoln Navigator, MKX, and Mercury Mariner (gas engines) and Mountaineer, Volvo XC90, and on all E-350 passenger Wagons.
· AdvanceTrac© with Roll Stability Control™ will be standard on the 2009 Ford F-150, Flex, Escape Hybrid, E-150 (gas) and the 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid.
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Statement on IIHS Roof Crush Report
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers issued the following statement in response to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) study on roof strength and injury risk in rollover crashes.
“Unfortunately, there remains no definitive answer as to what effect roof strength has on injury risk in rollover crashes. IIHS’ flawed analysis does not help to further inform the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) rulemaking that proposes to amend the agency’s standard on roof crush resistance as part of a comprehensive plan for reducing the serious risk of rollover crashes and the risk of death and serious injury in those crashes. This comprehensive plan is intended to improve vehicle stability, ejection mitigation, roof crush resistance, as well as road improvement and behavioral strategies aimed at consumer education.
“The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which is committed to enhancing motor vehicle safety, supports current NHTSA efforts to develop a systems approach to further reduce rollover-related risks. The Alliance also supports NHTSA’s efforts to enhance overall roof stiffness as part of its comprehensive plan to enhanced rollover injury mitigation. Alliance members agree with NHTSA’s assessment that, by itself, changes to the roof crush resistance standard will have little overall effect in reducing rollover related fatalities, and that, according to NHTSA, amendments to the standard are desired because they may enable advanced rollover injury mitigation systems such as side curtain airbags that deploy during rollovers.
“Automakers understand that the most effective strategy for reducing rollover fatalities and injuries is avoiding a crash in the first place, and the Alliance is proud of its members’ successes in the voluntary introduction of critical safety enhancements such as electronic stability control (ESC), which the IIHS has said reduces by 56 percent the risk of a single vehicle crash. ESC is currently available on 81 percent of MY 2008 vehicles (76 percent standard, 24 percent optional). Additionally, to reduce the risk of injury if a rollover crash does occur, Alliance members have been developing rollover sensors for use with side curtain airbags to enable the bags to deploy in the event of a rollover. Rollover air bags stay inflated longer to help keep occupants inside the vehicle. 76 percent of MY 2008 vehicles are available with side curtain airbags (83 percent standard, 17 percent optional). More than a quarter of these are rollover airbags. Finally, Alliance members are voluntarily installing advanced safety belt reminders in a many new vehicles. According to the NHTSA, safety belts reduce rollover fatalities by 74 percent for passenger cars and 80 percent for light trucks.
“The Alliance is among many in the safety community that share the concern for enhanced safety. As leaders in the area of research and development funding, automakers today produce automobiles that are safer than ever before.”
As always if you have any questions please feel free to contact me or utilize your local Direct Impact representative for assistance with any media inquiries you may receive.
Thank you,
Marisa Bradley / Ford Motor Company / Dealer Communications / 313.845.3971 / mbradl31@ford.com