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BeltMinder(TM) Helps Ford Customers to Buckle Up

9 March 2000

BeltMinder(TM) Helps Ford Customers to Buckle Up

    - Ford technology drives home importance of Michigan's mandatory
      safety belt law
    - Drivers get reminder to buckle-up, avoid unsafe driving and citations


    DETROIT, March 9 Today, Michigan became the 38th state to
allow for primary enforcement of Michigan's mandatory safety belt law -- a
driver can be pulled over and ticketed for not wearing a safety belt.  With
this stepped up level of enforcement, it is now more important than ever for
drivers to remember to buckle-up -- and that's where Ford comes in.
    Ford Motor Company is helping to remind customers to buckle-up
with its innovative BeltMinder(TM) system that is being rolled out in Ford,
Lincoln and Mercury cars, trucks, minivans and sport utilities this year.
    The BeltMinder(TM) system uses a safety belt usage sensor located in the
belt buckle to determine whether the driver is buckled up.  The sensor feeds
this information to a control module, and if a driver is unbelted when the
vehicle is in motion, a red light in the instrument panel will illuminate and
a chime will intermittently sound to remind customers to use the safety belt.
In time, the system will be expanded to offer front-seat passengers the same
type of reminder.
    "Government research shows that a majority of surveyed drivers who don't
always buckle up simply forget -- and more than 40 percent said they drove
unbelted when in a hurry," said Helen Petrauskas, Ford's vice president of
Environmental and Safety Engineering.  "Ford cares about its customers and
wants to make sure that people aren't compromising their safety just because
their lives are hectic."
    About 35,000 vehicle occupants in the United States die each year in
traffic accidents.  Government research shows that more than 4,000 lives could
be saved and thousands of injuries could be prevented annually if the safety
belt usage rates climbed from 68 to 85 percent.
    "We can save thousands of lives this year -- without adding any new safety
technology to cars and trucks or changing vehicle designs," Petrauskas said.
"All people have to do is buckle up, and Ford has a new system to help remind
customers to do just that -- and we think it's fantastic."