|
Ford Safety Enhancing Innovations
Ford Motor Company's trailblazing safety
technologies are designed to reduce
crashes and fatalities. These
innovations include MyKey® and SYNC®.
“Ford has a long-standing commitment to
safety, as we seek to improve crash
protection, crash avoidance and safe
driving behavior,” says a spokesperson
for Ford. “When it comes to teens, Ford
is using extensive research to develop
educational and technological solutions
to help reduce the loss of young lives
on our roads.” These efforts go a long
way in addressing real-world concerns.
According to a Harris Interactive Study
commissioned by Ford, 57 percent of
parents worry that cell phone
conversations are distracting their teen
drivers, while 34 percent of surveyed
teens say they talk on their phones
while driving. At the same time, 15
percent of teens said they text while
driving, while 51 percent of parents are
concerned about this practice. When it
comes to speeding, 53 percent of parents
worry their teens drive too fast and 44
percent of teens surveyed admitted to
it.
Ford’s MyKey feature – which is a
standard feature on nearly all Ford and
Lincoln models – is designed to
encourage safe driving behaviour by
teens, and increase safety-belt usage.
The technology allows owners to program
a key that can limit the vehicle’s top
speed to 80 mph and audio volume to less
than half of the maximum. MyKey also
encourages safety-belt usage, and can be
programmed to sound special chimes at
45, 55 and 65 mph. It also provides
earlier low-fuel warnings. This can be
configured to provide warnings at 50
miles to empty or 75 miles to empty.
“We found plenty of evidence supporting
the need for this technology,” said the
Ford spokesperson, citing government
data that show 58 percent of 16- to
20-year-olds involved in fatal accidents
were unbuckled. “For example,
safety-belt usage is the lowest among
teenagers, yet safety belts are the No.
1 life-saving device in accidents. So,
we are turning up the Belt-Minder®
system’s annoyance factor a bit with
MyKey.”
The MyKey system allows the parent to
program any key through the vehicle
message center, which updates the
SecuriLock® Passive Anti-Theft System.
When the MyKey is inserted into the
ignition, the system reads the
transponder chip in the key and
immediately identifies the MyKey code,
which enables certain default driving
modes, including: Persistent Ford
Belt-Minder with audio mute. With MyKey,
Belt-Minder automatically mutes the
vehicle’s audio system when a safety
belt is unsecured. A message center
display, “Buckle Up to Unmute Radio,”
also appears on the instrument cluster.
In addition, the reminder chimes
continue every minute until the belt is
buckled. If MyKey is in the ignition,
features such as park aid and BLIS®
(Blind Spot Information System) with
cross-traffic alert will always be on
alert and cannot be disabled.
Ford also is helping to reduce potential
driver distraction through its
hands-free, voice-activated technologies
such as Ford SYNC. A recent study shows
SYNC significantly reduces the level of
distraction when drivers select a phone
number or choose a song on their MP3
player compared with the same operations
with hand-held cell phones and music
players.
“We know people want to stay connected
in their vehicles, so Ford is continuing
to deliver that connectivity responsibly
and safely,” said the Ford spokesperson.
“Our SYNC research backs up what most of
us instinctively know – that it is
better while driving to place a call
using a voice interface than dialing
manually, because you can keep your
hands on the wheel and eyes on the
road.”
“We are confident that our efforts
through research, education and
innovation are helping drivers,
particularly teens, to hone their
driving skills while avoiding the risky
behaviors that contribute to dangerous
driving situations,” the Ford
spokesperson added.
Ford is known world over for
manufacturing vehicles with exceptional
safety, luxury and unsurpassed
technological superiority. Ford ploughs
in millions of dollars into R&D each
year to ensure that every Ford offers
maximum safety and motoring pleasure for
its customers. Ford vehicles are also
thoroughly tested in the tough Middle
East conditions to withstand climatic
extremes and terrain conditions of the
region. Ford’s advanced range of
feature-loaded vehicles have grown in
popularity in Oman, earning a
well-deserved reputation for being
technologically superior
In Oman, Ford vehicles are brought to
you by Arabian Car Marketing Co. LLC, a
part of the renowned Saud Bahwan Group.
They come with 6 years unlimited mileage
protection, 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.
|
