FordBuyer Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Ford Motor Co. tops safe car list Tuesday November 25, 12:09 am ET By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer Ford Motor Co. leads list of insurance industry's safest vehicles WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dozens of new cars and trucks, led by Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo subsidiary, made the insurance industry's annual list of the safest vehicles, helped by the growing adoption of anti-rollover technology. ADVERTISEMENT For the 2009 model year, Ford and Volvo have 16 vehicles on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's list of the safest cars, followed by Honda Motor Co. with 13 vehicles, the institute said Tuesday. Seventy-two cars, trucks and SUVs received the top safety pick designation for the 2009 model year, more than double the number of vehicles in 2008 and three times the number in 2007. "No matter what kind of vehicle buyers may be considering, now they can walk into just about any dealership and find one that affords the best overall protection in serious crashes," said institute president Adrian Lund. The selected vehicles are tops in protecting people in front, side and rear crash tests based on institute evaluations during the year. The vehicles are required to have electronic stability control, or ESC, to qualify for the award. IIHS said electronic stability control is now standard equipment on virtually all new SUVs and three-quarters of passenger cars for the 2009 model year. ESC is standard on more than one-third of 2009 pickups. Ford's top performers include the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan midsize cars with optional ESC, the Ford F-150 pickup, Ford Edge and Ford Flex midsize sport utility vehicles and the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner small SUV. It also includes the Mazda Tribute, which has the same underpinnings as the Escape and Mariner. The awards bolster the case made by Ford CEO Alan Mulally in Washington last week when he testified along with Big Three executives seeking massive government aid. Mulally argued that Ford had made significant strides. "Every year, we're going to improve the quality, we're going to improve the fuel efficiency, we're going to improve the safety, and we're going to keep improving the productivity so we can offer the consumer the very best value," Mulally told a House committee. Honda and its Acura unit had vehicles in nearly every category, including top-sellers such as the Honda Accord, the Honda Civic 4-door with optional ESC, and the Acura MDX and RDX midsize SUVs, and the Honda Fit with optional ESC. The Fit is the first mini car to earn the safety award. Volkswagen AG and its Audi brand had nine vehicles on the list, including the Volkswagen Jetta and Passat and the Audi A3, A4 and A6. General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. both had eight vehicles on the list. GM's included the Cadillac CTS and the Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook large SUVs. Toyota's top performers were the Toyota Corolla with optional ESC, Toyota RAV4, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra and Scion xB. Using the awards, consumers can compare vehicles without having to review results from multiple tests. Automakers pay close attention to the institute's findings and frequently note positive ratings in television commercials. The institute has advocated for an early adoption of anti-rollover technology such as ESC ahead of a government requirement for the systems by the 2012 model year. Electronic stability control senses when a driver may lose control and automatically applies brakes to individual wheels to keep the vehicle stable and avoid a rollover. It helps motorists avoid skidding across icy or slick roads or keep control when swerving to avoid an unexpected object in the road. IIHS said Chrysler LLC was the only major automaker that did not receive a single award. They said Chrysler could have picked up five awards if the head restraints had been improved in the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, the Sebring convertible and the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country. Chrysler spokesman Cole Quinnell said he could not comment on whether the head restraints might be upgraded in the future. He said Chrysler vehicles are equipped with a variety of safety features and the institute's results "are just one of the sources of information about a vehicle's crash performance." Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: http://www.iihs.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 More IIHS picks More Five-Star ratings More fuel efficient vehicles Great Quality What's not to love? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Goodness, Chrysler had 0. That's obviously going to help their sales. :rip: Here's to Ford: :party2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang_sallad Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 hopefully this'll catch the attention of some of those countless people who rag on Ford without being aware of their recent improvements. There's no doubt at this point that their product portfolio has already made a significant turnaround. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Dangit, I wanted to get in and post this first Seriously, all you at Ford who have worked so hard to meet benchmarks like this deserve a HUGE round of applause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I hear ya Noah....I posted it, then saw this....man oh man are these BON'ers quick....uh, did I just say something naughty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 PS...ditto on the kudos....great job Ford!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpvbs Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Headlines everywhere will exclaim the virtues of Honda's brilliant safety engineering while highlighting the overall poor showing of the domestic makers. A footnote will mention that Ford was number 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005Explorer Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Headlines everywhere will exclaim the virtues of Honda's brilliant safety engineering while highlighting the overall poor showing of the domestic makers. A footnote will mention that Ford was number 1. Actually if you do a news search you will notice that Ford is grabbing headlines this time around... Here is one example... Ford, With Help From Volvo, Tops Safe Car List Ford, with help from Volvo subsidiary, leads list of insurance industry's safest vehicles By KEN THOMAS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON November 25, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press The insurance industry named dozens of new cars and trucks, led by Ford Motor Co. and its Volvo subsidiary, to its annual list of the safest vehicles Tuesday, helped by the increased use of anti-rollover technology. Ford and Volvo had 16 vehicles in the 2009 model year on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's list of the safest new cars, followed by Honda Motor Co. with 13 vehicles. http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=6327555 I will say however the headline cracks me up. You have to notice that the credit is actually given to Volvo for the performance, not Ford. This is one value of keeping Volvo around though. It is good for the reputation of the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Actually if you do a news search you will notice that Ford is grabbing headlines this time around... Here is one example... Ford, With Help From Volvo, Tops Safe Car List Ford, with help from Volvo subsidiary, leads list of insurance industry's safest vehicles Those two headlines make it sound like "poor wittle Ford" couldn't do anything by itself. :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 This needs to be brought up in Congress when they keep saying that the big 3 need to build safer, more reliable cars. They just don't get the fact the Ford has distanced itself from the other 2. Those two headlines make it sound like "poor wittle Ford" couldn't do anything by itself. :rolleyes: Agreed...and unfortunately, I'm sure that is the way it was intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papilgee4evaeva Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Those two headlines make it sound like "poor wittle Ford" couldn't do anything by itself. :rolleyes: I wonder how many of the reading public know that Ford owns Volvo, which renders those little insinuations useless... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I wonder how many of the reading public know that Ford owns Volvo, which renders those little insinuations useless... No, that makes it worse. Think about this: Ford, With Help From Volvo (some company that it does not own and had to ask for help from), Tops Safe Car List That sounds worse than: Ford, With Help From Volvo (a wholly owned subsidiary of FoMoCo), Tops Safe Car List Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Or "Ford, with help from Ford......" Ah well, I guess it's possible they'd say, "Honda, with help from Acura....." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papilgee4evaeva Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Or "Ford, with help from Ford......" Ah well, I guess it's possible they'd say, "Honda, with help from Acura....." "BMW, with help from Mini..." "Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche, with help from Porsche/Volkswagen/Audi..." It's quicksand. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BORG Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 The stats are a little skewed because of badge engineering, but good showing none-the-less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Only a =little= skewed by badge engineering. Otherwise, it'd be GM at the top of the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefstang Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 (edited) Kind of surprised that the Taurus didn't make the list. The Taurus/500 was kind of Ford's trophy car for safety ratings. I believe it was the first car to get the 5 star side impact rating without side airbags equipped. Now they're standard. I wonder what changed? Edited November 25, 2008 by chiefstang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92merc Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Kind of surprised that the Taurus didn't make the list. The Taurus/500 was kind of Ford's trophy car for safety ratings. I believe it was the first car to get the 5 star side impact rating without side airbags equipped. Now they're standard. I wonder what changed? I don't think anything has changed. Other than the IIHS is tired of saying it probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twintornados Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 (edited) Kind of surprised that the Taurus didn't make the list. The Taurus/500 was kind of Ford's trophy car for safety ratings. I believe it was the first car to get the 5 star side impact rating without side airbags equipped. Now they're standard. I wonder what changed? Uh...it's on the list Large cars Acura RL Audi A6 Cadillac CTS Ford Taurus Lincoln MKS Mercury Sable Toyota Avalon Volvo S80 Edited November 25, 2008 by twintornados Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefstang Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Uh...it's on the list Large cars Acura RL Audi A6 Cadillac CTS Ford Taurus Lincoln MKS Mercury Sable Toyota Avalon Volvo S80 I didn't see it in the summary, but found it on the full list. My bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005Explorer Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 I am watching the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams right now and Ford was highlighted in the story as having the best showing. He mentioned the Taurus and Fusion by name as being rated Top Safety picks. Chrysler was also highlighted for not having any vehicles rated as a Top Safety Pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fmorriso Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Dangit, I wanted to get in and post this first Seriously, all you at Ford who have worked so hard to meet benchmarks like this deserve a HUGE round of applause. Dittos on the applause. Looking specifically at the ratings for the 2009 Ford Escape, I'm glad I waited for the 2009 model with it's Good rating on the Frontal offset test compared to the Acceptable rating for previous model years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 (edited) I didn't see it in the summary, but found it on the full list. My bad... I was going to say, when they made ESC mandatory for list inclusion, it was 1-vehicle long: Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Sable Edited November 29, 2008 by Noah Harbinger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7upMustang Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 One thing I found odd...the Fusion and Milan both make the list, but the MKZ does not. Any guesses why? Could it be the new seats on the 09's? I know they were redesigned for the Fusion and Milan but not sure about the Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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