FORD FREESTYLE CROSSOVER EARNS TOP RATINGS IN NHTSA & IIHS CRASH TESTING
DEARBORN, Mich., Sept.14, 2006 - The Ford Freestyle crossover has earned the highest available crash test ratings from both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

The Ford Freestyle earned the highest possible five star rating in both the government's frontal and side impact crash test modes. In recent IIHS testing, the 2006 Freestyle, with optional side air bags, earned the Institute's highest side impact rating. A standard three row Safety Canopy™ side air bag system with rollover sensor provides additional protection not only in certain side collisions, but in rollover events as well.

Freestyle previously earned the Insurance Institute's “best pick” designation in frontal offset crash test performance. Following its 40-m.p.h. offset frontal barrier crash test, IIHS noted that Freestyle’s occupant compartment experienced minimal intrusion by maintaining its integrity very well – an essential factor in helping to protect vehicle occupants in a frontal crash.

“Creating safe, high-quality, affordable vehicles for our customers is part of our ongoing commitment to safety innovation,” said Sue Cischke, vice president of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company. “We are very pleased to see this recognition of Freestyle and our other vehicles, and we are quickly moving ahead with standardization of safety features on our vehicles.”

IIHS previously recognized Freestyle, as well as the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego sedans, because their structures and restraints’ systems were designed and fine-tuned to provide a high level of safety by achieving a balance between ability to absorb crash pulse energy and attain a controlled rate of occupant deceleration. IIHS President Adrian Lund said, “The Freestyle’s performance is what we like to see,” Lund said. “Ford has done a good job of designing its newest vehicles to better protect occupants in frontal crashes.”

Ford’s innovative architecture, shared among Freestyle and the Five Hundred and Montego sedans, is engineered to offer a structure with crush zones designed into impact areas. A patent-pending new design tailors the steering column’s collapse to the driver’s size and safety-belt use for enhanced protection.

Side-impact protection comes from a combination of advanced air bag technology and structural features that help safeguard occupants from intrusion by channeling crash energy away from the passenger compartment. An innovative cross-car beam “SPACE TM Architecture” under the front seats reinforces the structure between the B-pillars, which directs energy away from passengers.

Frontal impact performance was designed to meet the new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, which requires the restraints system to automatically adjust to the size of the front-seat passenger. The air bag controller uses front passenger classification sensing to determine if the seat is occupied, and if so, whether the passenger is an adult, a child or a child in a child safety seat. Air bag deployment is tailored – or altogether suppressed – to help provide the proper level of protection.

Ford also broke new ground in safety with Freestyle’s innovative adaptive steering column that collapses horizontally at two different load levels based on safety belt usage and seat position. Driver air-bag deployment level is tailored to the occupant, based on the position of the driver’s seat track.
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