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2010 Taurus earns Five-star Crash
Ratings
The new 2010 Ford Taurus has earned
the U.S. government’s top five-star
ratings for driver and passenger in
front and side crash tests
 The
new Taurus has an advanced crash safety
structure, a standard suite of advanced
restraint and air bag technologies, and
previously earned the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety’s “Top
Safety Pick” – adding to Ford’s
industry-leading number of top crash
safety-rated vehicles
Taurus advanced collision avoidance
technologies, including radar-enabled
advanced collision warning system and
Cross Traffic Alert that warns drivers
of hard-to-see parking lot traffic, are
well received by consumers
The strong-selling new 2010 Ford Taurus
has earned top five-star crash ratings
from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) and is seeing
good consumer response to its suite of
advanced crash-avoidance technologies.
The redesigned Ford flagship sedan
previously earned a “Top Safety Pick”
from the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety (IIHS). Ford Motor Company has
more IIHS “Top Safety Picks” and NHTSA
five-star ratings than any other
automaker.
“The new Taurus is the Ford safety
flagship with top safety ratings and
advanced crash-protection and
crash-avoidance technologies that you
may not find in luxury vehicles that
cost twice as much,” said Sue Cischke,
group vice president for Ford
Sustainability, Environment and Safety
Engineering. “A stiffer body structure
and new crash-avoidance technologies
make the Taurus even safer.”
Safety sells
The new Taurus features crash-avoidance
technologies, such as a segment-first,
radar-based forward collision warning
system that helps drivers avoid
accidents. The system, enabled by
Adaptive Cruise Control, uses a radar
sensor to detect moving vehicles ahead
and provides a visual “heads-up” warning
signal and an audible warning when
slower-moving traffic is detected ahead.
One in three purchasers of the Taurus
Limited AWD opts for Adaptive Cruise
Control with the Collision Warning with
Brake Support system, as do nearly half
of Taurus SHO buyers.
The new Taurus is selling faster than
its key competitors in the full-size
segment recording double-digit
percentage, year-over-year growth, said
Taurus Marketing Manager Pei-Wen Hsu.
“What’s remarkable is that more than 90
percent of Taurus customers are ordering
the higher-end series or additional
technologies such as the fuel-efficient
EcoBoost™ engine and Ford’s advanced
safety features,” said Hsu. “The car is
attracting younger, more diverse and
affluent customers than it has in the
past.”
Safety leadership grows
The new 2010 Taurus earned the five-star
and “Top Safety Pick” ratings based in
part on advanced features such as the
Personal Safety System™ – a suite of
protection technologies, including
dual-stage front air bags and
front-passenger weight classification,
which work together to help protect
occupants in moderate to severe crashes.
The Ford-exclusive Safety Canopy®
features side curtain air bags that help
protect front and rear outboard
passengers in both rollover and
side-impact crashes.
The new Taurus also features some of the
industry’s first side air bags that use
pressure pulses from a side impact to
deploy up to 30 percent faster than
traditional air bags with
acceleration-based sensors.
Pressure-based sensors more accurately
measure crash severity to better
differentiate between a potentially
serious air bag-deployable crash and a
less serious accident that would not
require air bag protection.
Other key safety features include:
Side Protection and Cabin Enhancement
(SPACE®) Architecture is comprised of a
hydroformed cross-car beam embedded in
the floor between the door frames,
providing additional strength in the
side of the vehicle.
Trinity Front Crash Architecture is a
new body structure optimized for
strength and stiffness. The
energy-absorbing structure features
octagonal front frame rails, engine
cradle/front subframe and “shotgun”
front structural members designed to
absorb and redirect crash forces away
from the passenger compartment.
AdvanceTrac® with ESC (Electronic
Stability Control) constantly monitors
road conditions and the driver’s
responses, using sensors to detect and
measure the vehicle’s oversteer and yaw
to help detect and prevent potentially
dangerous conditions.
More driver-aid and safety technologies
The new Taurus features other
segment-exclusive safety and driver-aid
technologies such as MyKey™, which helps
parents encourage their teens to drive
safer with top speed and audio limits,
as well as a “no belts, no tunes”
feature that mutes the audio system if
front seat belts are not buckled.
Taurus also helps lessen common stresses
with a Blind Spot Information System (BLIS®)
that uses two multiple-beam radar
modules to detect and help warn drivers
of an approaching vehicle entering the
defined blind spot zone. Cross Traffic
Alert uses the BLIS radar modules to
sense oncoming traffic when slowly
backing out of a parking spot. The
feature is not available as of now in
Oman but may be available soon.
“We want to help drivers avoid crashes
while giving them enhanced protection if
a crash does occur,” said Steve Kozak,
chief engineer, Ford Safety Systems.
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles are
marketed in the Sultanate by Arabian Car
Marketing, a part of the renowned Saud
Bahwan Group, with Service and Parts
network that stretches across the
Sultanate, over 98% parts availability -
and Ford Privilege Card – which provides
24 hours On-road assistance from AAA,
Oman’s premier On-road Assistance
Service Providers. For more information
and latest offers from Ford, logon to
www.fordoman.com
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