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
Manufacturers used to roll out all-new cars every five-to-eight years. Somewhere around the halfway point – usually year three – much hoopla would be made about new front and rear fascias, the addition of some standard features and some new option packages. (*Yawn*). These changes were designed to give shoppers a reason to look at a car that was getting long-in-the-tooth.
