Vehicle Safety

Others have recognized the results of our efforts. In 2007, we again earned high marks for safety test performance from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP) and the Chinese New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP):

• Ford holds the most IIHS Top Safety Picks of any automobile manufacturer. Eight Ford vehicles earned this honor in 2007, including the 2008 Ford Taurus, Ford Taurus X, Ford Edge, Mercury Sable, Lincoln MKX and Volvo S80, C70 and X90. To earn a Top Safety Pick, a vehicle must receive a rating of "good" in offset frontal impact, side impact and rear impact evaluations and offer electronic stability control.
• 15 Ford vehicles received five-star ratings for frontal impact and side impact from NHTSA in its 2007 U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) ratings.
• The Ford Taurus is rated the safest vehicle in America, with five-star NCAP crash ratings for frontal and side impact and "good" IIHS ratings in offset frontal impact, side impact and rear impact evaluations.
• The Mustang Convertible earned five-star ratings in all categories of NHTSA NCAP.
• The IIHS awarded 21 Ford vehicles with "good" ratings for frontal offset performance.
• Recent EuroNCAP assessments of the Ford S-MAX, Galaxy and Mondeo resulted in best-in-class ratings for adult and child occupant protection. The Galaxy achieved the highest score for a right-hand-drive vehicle. This meant that at the time of the new Ford Mondeo launch, four of the top 10 highest-rated vehicles ever tested by EuroNCAP were Fords (the Focus, Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy).
• In 2007, the Land Rover Freelander 2 received the EuroNCAP best-in-class rating for a small off-road vehicle for adult occupant protection. This vehicle is also among the highest rated in its class for child occupant protection.
• The Ford Focus was the first small family car to be awarded a five-star rating in the Chinese New Car Assessment Program. No other car in this category has yet reached this level of test performance.

In addition:

• Volvo Cars' unique Personal Car Communicator won the Innovation Award at the 2007 British Insurance Car Security Awards.
• Children & Cars – Volvo Cars' manual about child safety – was awarded "best information manual in Sweden" in 2007.
• Volvo's two-stage booster seat earned two awards: Popular Science's Best of What's New award and the World Traffic Safety Symposium's top safety prize.