In critical situations, the driver needs to focus fully on the traffic and on his or her own driving. Under these conditions, information not relevant to driving may present a distraction. Volvo Cars' Intelligent Driver-Information System (IDIS) helps the driver to screen out irrelevant information in certain critical situations. For example, the system can delay incoming calls to the integrated telephone until the situation is less critical. The system continually monitors driver activity and prioritizes the information flow on that basis. Launched in 2003, IDIS has been standard on the Volvo S40 and V50 in most markets since 2004.
Ford has developed numerous additional innovations to help the driver avoid accidents, including several technologies that use forward-looking radar and vision sensors. Among these is the Collision Warning feature, which uses forward-looking radar to warn the driver of a potential collision when he or she is approaching another moving vehicle from behind. Collision Warning is available in Europe on the 2007 Ford S-MAX, the 2007 Galaxy and the 2007 Volvo S80, and in the United States on the 2007 Volvo S80. The Collision Warning feature and other new technologies are discussed in more detail in the Volvo S80 case study at the end of this section.
In 2006, Ford was recognized for its commitment to occupant protection via high marks for safety from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Notably, 18 Ford vehicles received five-star ratings for frontal impact and side impact from NHTSA in its U.S. 2007 New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) ratings. The IIHS awarded 22 Ford vehicles with "good" ratings for frontal offset performance in crash tests, and singled-out three vehicles – the brand-new Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, as well as the Volvo XC90 – as Top Safety Picks.
Recent EuroNCAP results for the Ford Focus, S-MAX and Galaxy have demonstrated best-in-class ratings for adult and child occupant protection. Ford now has three of the top seven vehicles ever tested by the EuroNCAP. In addition, the Galaxy has achieved the highest score possible for a right-hand-drive vehicle.
Many factors influence a vehicle's crashworthiness, including the design of the vehicle's structure to absorb impact energy and the use of passive safety equipment such as air bags. To help protect drivers and passengers in the event of a crash, our newest technologies further enhance the performance of safety belts and air bags, and provide additional occupant protection in side crashes and rollovers.
The Ford Personal Safety System™ helps reduce the risk of injury to the driver and front passenger in the event of a moderate to severe frontal collision. The system is designed to adjust the deployment of the front air bags to enhance protection for front-seat occupants. It accomplishes this with the help of crash severity sensors, safety belt usage sensors, dual-stage driver and front-passenger air bags, a driver's seat position sensor and front outboard safety belt pretensioners. The Personal Safety System is standard on many Ford vehicles in the United States.
The 2007 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer are equipped with numerous standard advanced safety technologies to help meet our stringent internal requirements to enhance occupant protection. For starters, the Explorer/Mountaineer's Intelligent Safety System includes two key sensors. One sensor estimates the driver's size by his or her distance from the steering wheel, and another (the patented Five-Level Passenger Sensing System) detects whether the passenger seat is empty or occupied by a child or a small, medium or large adult. In the event of a frontal crash, a variety of technologies work together as a system to engage innovative safety features in milliseconds to help protect the driver and passenger.
In addition, the 2007 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer are equipped with features to enhance occupant protection during a side-impact event. Side-impact air bags for the driver and front passenger, mounted in the outboard side of each front seat, enhance chest-area protection and are standard on all models. Door armrests and door trim also provide additional abdomen and lower torso cushions, and a four-inch-thick foam block inside each door helps to manage side-impact forces on the occupants' hips. The all-new 2007 Volvo S80 includes a long list of innovations in occupant protection (see Volvo S80 case study).
In Europe, Ford has been at the forefront of industry efforts to attempt to develop feasible and effective measures to help reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities. This is also discussed more fully at the end of this section (see Jaguar case study).
Crash Compatibility
Ford has been the industry leader in developing crash-compatible vehicles. Beginning with the 2000 model year, Ford began equipping vehicles with BlockerBeams™ to help align the front crush structures of our trucks and SUVs with those of most passenger cars. In December 2003, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, of which Ford Motor Company is a member, announced historic voluntary industry agreements to improve the collision compatibility of light trucks and passenger cars. The goal of the agreements is to enhance occupant safety in front-to-front impact and front-to-side impact collisions between the two styles of vehicles.
The front-to-front compatibility agreement requires that the primary and secondary energy-absorbing front-crash structures of light trucks be better aligned with the bumper zones of passenger cars. These requirements help reduce the potential for structural override (i.e., misalignment of the energy-absorbing parts) between, for example, light trucks and passenger cars in a head-on collision. In the 2006 model year, approximately 60 percent of all light trucks produced by Ford Motor Company met the requirements of this voluntary agreement. By the 2010 model year, all of the applicable light trucks and SUVs produced by Ford will meet the agreement.
The front-to-side voluntary agreement included head protection requirements that will help further protect occupants in a side-impact collision in which the striking vehicle is larger and/or taller than the vehicle being struck. This voluntary agreement goes beyond the current U.S. side-impact regulation, which envisions that the striking vehicle is a passenger car.
Ford vehicles will meet the voluntary front-to-side impact agreement by providing side air curtains or seat-mounted combination head/chest side air bags. In the 1999 model year, Ford was the first domestic automobile manufacturer to offer side air bags designed to enhance head protection (front seat-mounted head/chest side air bags). The 2002-1/2 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer were the first vehicles in the industry to offer side air curtains (the innovation known as Ford's Safety Canopy™) that activate in both rollovers and side impacts. Today, nearly all of our products offer side air bags that include enhanced head protection, and nearly all of our SUVs offer the Safety Canopy for enhanced head protection in both rollovers and side impacts. Most of our side air bag systems already meet the stringent requirements of the voluntary agreement. By September 1, 2009, all Ford vehicles covered by the agreement will meet the front-to-side compatibility requirements.
Post-Crash/Injury Mitigation
One method of assisting emergency responders to reach the scene of a vehicle crash quickly is through in-vehicle emergency call systems, also called automatic crash notification. These systems enable a driver to summon assistance in an urgent situation either automatically (if, for example, an air bag deploys) or at the touch of a button. The Volvo On Call system1 – a GSM- and GPS-based emergency and assistance system – is currently sold in seven European countries, and Volvo is the first OEM to have the service working across borders in 13 European countries. The infrastructure is now fully installed and operating in the UK, Sweden, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg, Austria and Denmark. Over the next few years, Volvo will offer the Volvo On Call service to other markets as well.
In late 2004, Ford, via its membership in the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the development of a pan-European, in-vehicle emergency call system dubbed "eCall." The purpose of the MOU is to promote the development and implementation of eCall systems throughout Europe, in order to improve the number of vehicles reached by emergency responders within a short period of time. With Volvo's On Call system, Ford has made and will continue to make significant progress toward increasing the availability of eCall technology on vehicles in Europe.
