Ford Fiesta Production & Crash Test Kudos

The Ford Fiesta is making it to the United States and it is being sold to customers. I can vouch for that because I saw my first 2011 Fiesta that wasn’t on a test track or sitting in a dealer showroom earlier this week.  Decked out in Lime Squeeze Metallic, that sedan zipped past me as we were both making left turns opposite each other at a busy intersection.

Production Delays

So far, Ford has managed to contain what could be an embarrassing PR problem with its Fiesta. Built in Mexico, the Ford Fiesta has slowly been making its way to the United States, but delays due to weather problems at the beginning of the summer followed by having to halt shipment this past week to fix a defective part has made Fiesta sightings almost as uncommon as finding Big Foot.

But the Fiesta isn’t your local Yeti with 4,400 models sold through the end of July. That number is likely to pick up; I’m fully expecting that by this time next year the Ford Fiesta will be one of the top ten selling cars in America.

IIHS Honors

One of the biggest tests for the Ford Fiesta (or for any model for that matter) is putting it through the crash test wringer. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety or IIHS is funded by the major insurance companies and conducts crash tests on new models. The higher the score, the lower your insurance premium. Consumers can save hundreds of dollars annually on auto insurance costs if their vehicle scores high.

This week, the IIHS announced that the Ford Fiesta sedan and hatchback garnered the Top Safety Pick laurels, the first mini car (subcompact or smaller) to do so.  The Fiesta received good ratings for front, side, rollover, and rear crash protection, and for having electronic stability control as standard equipment.

Moreover, the Fiesta represents the eighth Ford Motor Company product to win a Top Safety Pick award giving Ford one more model than Toyota, now in second place. Yes, that feat is great news for consumers and a marketing coup for Ford who most certainly will promote that advantage.

Tough Materials

So, how did Ford make such a small car so tough? Ford says that more than half of the Fiesta’s body structure uses high-strength or ultra-high-strength steels in the floor structure, front rails, beams and in the ultra-rigid, integrated body reinforcement ring designed to help better protect occupants in side impacts.

Further, Ford uses ultra-high-strength aluminized boron steel in its Fiesta A- and B-pillars, pillars that hold up the windshield section and the middle of the roof at the door posts.

Source: Ford Motor Company

5 New Innovations in Car Safety Technologies

By Ann Smarty

Our cars are becoming chicer, more fuel efficient and safer every day, as car manufacturers search for ways to satisfy our desire for the best and the safest.

Today’s vehicle effortlessly blend comfort, performance and safety, thereby offering car buyers more than they’ve ever had before in terms of features and styling. Cutting-edge safety technology has also grown by leaps and bounds, especially over the past few years. Technology continues to produce the best safety features that are designed to protect ourselves, our passengers and other motorists and pedestrians.

Here are our picks for the top five best new innovations in cars safety technology:

1. Tire pressure monitoring systems – Tire pressure monitoring systems provide the latest and greatest technology for eliminating low tire pressure on our cars, which can result in an accident or simply poor gas mileage. A tire pressure monitoring system can also alert us in seconds to a flat tire, thereby reducing the chances of becoming involved in a car accident due to a flat tire.

2. Blind-spot detection – Finally! There now is a system for alerting us if we attempt to make a turn and an object or car is in our blind spot. This technology responds as soon as the driver puts on the turn signal, thereby preventing a collision caused by the driver’s blind spot.

3. Rollover prevention – Most of the newer SUVs are equipped with electronic stability control systems, but rollover prevention systems take the concept one step further. If you are making a turn too fast and the car senses a potential rollover, the rollover prevention system will apply the brakes and modulate the throttle as needed to help you maintain control of the vehicle. Ford calls it Roll Stability Control, while GM calls it Proactive Roll Avoidance.

4. Sensitive air bag systems – In older model cars, the airbag deploys when a front-end crash occurs. However, many of today’s vehicles come equipped with more sensitive air bag systems, which sense the difference in the size and weight of the occupants and deploys the air bags accordingly. This technology may even be able to detect that an individual is not wearing a seat belt or that he or she is positioned abnormally in the seat and compensate the air bag deployment to accommodate this.

5. Night vision assist – Properly operating a vehicle takes on a whole new meaning during the nighttime hours. Some of the newest vehicle technology allows drivers to see further down the road, courtesy of thermal-imaging cameras, thereby allowing them to spot animals, pedestrians and other vehicles that they normally would not have seen.

These cutting-edge safety technologies will offer drivers not only added safety when behind the wheel, but may also offer them discounts on their car insurance. Many car insurance companies will offer drivers of safe vehicles, such as those with newer safety technology, discounts on their car insurance, thereby saving money while at the same time protecting themselves, their passengers, and other motorists and pedestrians. The safety technology of today and tomorrow is far-reaching and impressive, to say the least.

Author Information

This is a guest post by Annie, a new mom working for one of top car insurance companies.

IIHS Adds Fourth Test Category: Roof Strength

Tiny as they are, Smart Fortwos perform quite well in IIHS crash tests thanks to its built in safety cage.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an association of auto insurance companies who track how well vehicles perform in a crash. These tests go far in helping member companies decide how much to charge customers, which means automakers know that a low score could result in higher insurance premiums. High premiums can keep shoppers away from purchasing a particular model, thus the importance of performing well.

Thousands Killed Annually In Rollovers

Up until recently the IIHS tested cars for front, side and rear impact, but they didn’t test these cars for roof impact which happens as a result of vehicle roll overs. Roof strength is critical because if your roof collapses, you and your passengers could be seriously injured or killed. About 10,000 people are killed annually due to rollovers, which is about one-fourth of all vehicle deaths in the US.

To roll out its new test, the IIHS decided to test the smallest cars on the road – a group of micro and mini-cars that may soon become dominate on our roads especially if gas prices begin to surge once again. The Smart Fortwo, Chevy Aveo, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and Hyundai Accent were each tested with some surprising results – the Fortwo’s roof was the strongest while the Aveo was the weakest, the latter model given a “marginal” rating by the IIHS.

Smart Fortwo Cage

IIHS research has shown that car roofs have gotten strong lately, which is good news for consumers. In the case of the Smart Fortwo, which is enveloped in a safety cage, roof strength is superior to most cars on the road.

“We anticipate that our roof strength test will drive improved rollover crash protection the same way our frontal offset and side tests have led to better occupant protection in these kinds of crashes,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “Small cars should have an easier time with the roof strength test,” Lund explains. “Their light weight means their roofs don’t have to work as hard to keep the structure around the occupants intact in a rollover.”

More Tests Soon

Likely, we’ll hear some pretty bad news as the IIHS test expands to incorporate more body styles with SUVs expected to perform poorly. Minivans, crossovers and any other larger vehicle will probably have a difficult time getting a score above acceptable with perhaps marginal being the common score among some segments.

Source: IIHS

See Also — IIHS Recognizes Ford Safety Among This Year’s Top Picks