Skip to main content

ads1

2008 Ford Taurus, 2008 Mercury Sable Earn Top Safety Picks

- 2008 Ford Taurus, 2008 Mercury Sable earn “Top Safety Pick” ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for achieving the highest ratings in frontal offset, side and rear impact crash protection.
- Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are the world's only large family cars to earn both the IIHS Top Safety Pick rating and the U.S. government's highest available five-star ratings in all crash test categories.
- Ford and Volvo engineers worked together to create this innovative vehicle structure featuring crush zones so that energy is transferred around the passenger compartment.
- Class-leading affordability and safety combine to make Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable two of the best choices for safety-conscious consumers looking for full-size family cars.

2008 Ford Taurus
2008 Ford Taurus

The 2008 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable will arrive in showrooms this summer bearing Top Safety Pick ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the government’s highest available five-star ratings in all crash test categories.

The IIHS' "Top Safety Pick" rating can only be earned by vehicles that achieve the best-available safety performance in frontal, side and rear collisions and offer electronic stability control. In addition to being the only large family cars to merit IIHS' Top Safety Pick rating, these sedans stand alone for also earning five-star driver and passenger crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“It’s a true testament to the safety engineering of these vehicles that they achieved top crash test ratings from both IIHS and NHTSA,” said Sue Cischke, senior vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company. “Ford and Volvo worked together to leverage our technical and intellectual resources to create this outstanding vehicle architecture, and now it's better than ever. These cars offer it all: safety, power, spaciousness, comfort and great features, all at a great value."

The Insurance Institute also gave both vehicles its highest rear impact rating for offering effective protection against neck injuries, as well as its highest front and side impact ratings for withstanding intrusion into the occupant compartment.

The structure of the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable is engineered with crush zones designed to direct excess energy around the passenger compartment into a high-strength safety cage. An innovative cross-car beam “SPACETM Architecture” under the front seats reinforces the structure between the B-pillars, which helps direct energy away from passengers.

2008 Mercury Sable
2008 Mercury Sable

Both vehicles offer an industry first two-row Safety Canopy™ side air bag system that provides additional protection not only in side impact collisions, but also deploys in rollover accidents. Side-impact protection comes from a combination of air bag technology and structural features that help safeguard occupants from intrusion by channeling crash energy away from the passenger compartment.

An advanced air bag controller uses front passenger classification sensing to determine if the seat is occupied, and if so, whether the passenger is a larger or smaller person. Air bag deployment is tailored – or altogether suppressed – to help provide an appropriate level of protection. The lower anchors and tethers for children, or LATCH system, provide mounting points for compatible child seats in the second row.

Both cars are available with AdvanceTrac® electronic stability control and all-wheel drive to provide drivers with a confident ride and smooth handling in all weather conditions. All Ford, Lincoln and Mercury retail cars and trucks will have standard electronic stability control by the end of 2009. ESC currently is standard on all Ford sport utility and crossover vehicles.

Ford Motor Company and its global brands have built more than 4 million vehicles globally with electronic stability control systems. More than one million of those vehicles feature Ford's industry exclusive AdvanceTrac® with Roll Stability Control, the world's only system with two gyroscopic sensors to actively measure and help control both yaw and roll movements.

“We believe our electronic stability control systems enhance vehicle safety by helping the driver prevent many accidents from occurring in the first place,” Cischke said. “Making families safer is a key part of our pledge to drive safety innovation.”

AdvanceTrac® with Roll Stability Control is standard equipment on most 2007 model year Ford Motor Company SUVs and crossovers. ESC will be standard on the 2008 model year Ford Taurus X. The 2008 Ford Taurus starts at $23,245 (MSRP); 2008 Mercury Sable, starts at $23,540.


Source: Ford Motor Company

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First Drive: 2007 Honda Civic GX

Previews Greenie spendthrifts wanted: A heavier, slower Civic with a smaller trunk. Oh, yeah, and it costs 50 percent more. Never mind that we in Michigan are just emerging from our igloos after a long cold winter. The world is heating up, the ice caps are melting, and when that melt is complete, we’ll all be living high in the mountains in houses on stilts to stay dry. Forty days and 40 nights the waters will rage, and when the ice caps refreeze, we’ll all be fighting over who called first dibs on those last two pigs for our celebratory barbecues, since the unicorns were already eaten by sharks. There are people who would argue that that sinister little creation, the automobile, is responsible for it all. We blame Al Gore, China, sweatshops, and greenie celebrities who flit about in private jets. Those who want to make a difference drive hybrids, while those who researched their decision drive diesels. Those who are truly enlightened and want to make a difference, however, seek someth...

Ford Offers Sneak Peek at New Mondeo

BRENTWOOD, England — Ford has released teaser images of its new Mondeo in advance of the car's world debut at the 2007 Geneva Auto Show. The vehicle should be of major interest to U.S. buyers, even though the car initially will only go on sale in Europe this summer, since it is one of several vehicles under consideration by the Dearborn automaker for launch in America. Just as Saturn has done with the Astra, sister car to the Opel Astra, Ford is taking a hard look at whether its European models, such as the Mondeo , would be appealing to American buyers who have shown a decided distaste for products like the Ford Five Hundred. The Five Hundred was recently renamed the Taurus in a bid to boost the vehicle's showroom traffic. The Mondeo is said to be one of several vehicles being studied for a U.S. launch at the behest of Ford's new president and CEO Alan Mulally. The new Mondeo goes upscale, apparently adopting design cues from sister brand Jaguar. It will be offered in ...

NAIAS Detroit 2007: Volkswagen continues BLUETEC offensive

Volkswagen is presenting the Concept Tiguan SUV study at the North American International Auto Show. In the first half of next year the series version of the “Touareg’s little brother” will be debuting in the US. The Tiguan is being advanced as a significant component in Volkswagen’s model range in order to expand the market position in the US. Moreover, Volkswagen expects additional US growth starting in 2008 from the market launch of the cleanest TDI of all times. The introduction of the Turbodiesel direct injection engine equipped with a NOx secondary treatment system is taking place as part of the BLUETEC offensive in the latest Jetta– the most successful car in America from a German manufacturer. European injection technologies are increasingly convincing US customers: In 2006 Volkswagen of America had sales 4.9 percent above the previous year. This corresponds to 235,140 vehicles sold in the US. The positive signs for 2007 include the Eos being offered for the first time over an ...