FORD'S SAFETY LEADERSHIP: A CLOSER LOOK

Dearborn November 13, 2004; For more than 100 years, Ford Motor Company has recognized its responsibility to provide its customers with vehicles that have the utility they require and the safety they demand. As part of its commitment to continually improve the safety of all its vehicles, the company has developed and advanced many unprecedented safety technologies in crash avoidance as well as crash protection. Among the numerous cutting-edge technologies already at work in Ford Motor Company products are the following:

Roll Stability Control™ – By the end of 2005, more than half a million Ford Motor Company SUVs equipped with Roll Stability Control™ – Ford’s exclusive enhanced stability technology – will be on the road. Unlike any other system in the world, Ford’s patented Roll Stability Control™ technology 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 Motor Company now has more than 80 patents and patent applications pending worldwide for its industry-leading Roll Stability Control system.

AdvanceTrac™ – Developed in conjunction with Ford’s involvement in Formula One racing, AdvanceTrac monitors the steering wheel angle, throttle position, wheel speed, yaw rate and other factors every 7 milliseconds (about once every 4 inches of travel at 30 mph) to determine if a vehicle is following the driver’s intended path. If the system detects that the car is about to fishtail (oversteer), it applies a braking impulse to the outside front wheel to help the driver stabilize the car. If the system detects the front of the car is drifting to the outside of a turn (understeer), it applies a similar braking impulse to the inside rear wheel. The system also will reduce engine power if necessary. AdvanceTrac is available on Ford Freestar, Explorer, Expedition, Mercury Monterey and Mountaineer, and Lincoln LS, Aviator and Navigator.

BeltMinder™ – Ford believes the single most important safety technology is the safety belt. In 1955, Ford was the first automaker to factory install front seat belts. Now, all Ford Motor Company vehicles in the U.S. and Canada are now equipped with BeltMinder™, a technology that uses sound and a flashing icon to remind drivers to buckle up. 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. Data show that BeltMinder works. Research conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety during 2001 showed that safety belt usage was 5 percentage points higher in vehicles with BeltMinder. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has cited the effectiveness of Ford’s BeltMinder technology, urging other automakers to install new technologies that encourage motorists to wear safety belts.

VIRTTEX – Ford is the only North American automaker with a full-motion-based driving simulator, called the Virtual Reality Test Track Experience. Opened in 2001, this specialized simulator has enabled Ford to take the lead on valuable research on driver distraction, including information on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in vehicles. Ford is using the technology to study the balance between customer "wants" and necessary features in a vehicle, while minimizing driver inattention. The VIRTTEX laboratory provides researchers complete control over the environment, allowing them to set test conditions on any road, in any weather, at any time. The only variable is the driver response. And there is no risk of injury to the driver.

Child Passenger Safety – Ford’s emphasis on safety includes everyone in the vehicle, especially the smallest passengers. Beginning in 1957, when Ford became the first automotive manufacturer to market child restraints, Ford has taken a proactive approach to protecting children in cars. In 1999, Ford was the first domestic manufacturer to introduce Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) into vehicle lines. LATCH makes a tight child seat installation easier for parents and caregivers.

Air Bags – In 1966, Ford was the first auto company to enter into a joint venture with a supplier to develop air bags and five years later had the first experimental air-bag fleet on the road. Driver-side air bags were offered by Ford as an option in 1985 and as a regular production option at midyear on the 1986 model year Ford Tempo. Ford again led the domestic industry in 1989 by offering dual air bags as standard equipment. In 1996, Ford was the first automaker to offer switches that would allow de-activation of the right-front passenger air bags. In 1998, Ford was one of the first manufacturers to begin offering side air bags on several models; today, nearly all Ford models offer side air bags. In 1998, Ford also introduced depowered front air bag systems in each of its vehicle lines in North America.

Safety Canopy™ – Ford was the first company to feature rollover sensors and curtain rollover air bags. The Safety Canopy™, first introduced on the 2002 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer, is designed to help reduce the risk of ejection in the event of a rollover. It also provides enhanced head protection in side impact collisions and rollovers. The Safety Canopy deploys from the headliner if triggered by either the rollover sensor, which monitors the vehicle’s roll angle and roll rate, or side crash sensors. It remains inflated for several seconds. Ford’s rollover curtain air bags cover approximately 65 percent of the window surface area in the first two rows to help reduce the risk of ejection and provide head protection.

Personal Safety System™ – This industry-leading feature incorporates more than a dozen technologies in a single safety package. It includes sensors that collect information to determine the proximity of the driver’s seat to the steering wheel, whether the driver and right front-seat passenger are wearing safety belts and how severe an accident is. Within milliseconds of the onset of a frontal crash, the system begins to process this information and determine which restraints to deploy. The restraints include: pretensioners in the safety belt system that can tighten the driver and right front-passenger safety belts and enhance the overall protection that the safety belt system provides; energy management retractors that limit the force on the occupant chest from the safety belt during a high-severity crash event by allowing a controlled release of webbing from the retractor; and dual-stage air bags, which offer two energy levels of air-bag deployment depending on the crash severity.

Emergency Trunk Release System – In 1999, Ford became the first automaker to install a standard trunk release system in its vehicles at no cost to customers. The company includes this feature on all its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars sold in the United States and Canada. While the hope is that people never need to use this feature, the innovative trunk release system uses a simple cable-operated release to help prevent youngsters and victims of carjackings from becoming trapped inside car trunks. In developing this system, the company worked with children and child development experts to understand how children commonly react and respond to different conditions. A glow-in-the-dark T-shaped handle will open the trunk if it is pulled from a variety of directions.