Statement by Ford on Mustang crash testing.
Statement:
· Mustang is a safe car meeting, or exceeding, all applicable safety standards globally. We are disappointed by the Ford Mustang Euro NCAP and ANCAP ratings.
· Mustang’s safety credentials are demonstrated by the five-star NHTSA NCAP rating awarded in the US as well as a ‘good’ IIHS rating.
· ANCAP adopted the Euro-NCAP result for the Mustang and both the E-NCAP and ANCAP results were published simultaneously on Wednesday 25 January. Mustang was tested under that latest E-NCAP protocol which is significantly more rigorous than previous protocols. Under this protocol, the maximum rating Mustang can receive, without Drivers Assistance Technologies such as Autonomous Emergency Breaking (AEB), is two stars.
· The Euro NCAP rating is based on four pillars (Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection and Safety Assist), with a very strong focus on family car and SUV safety characteristics and specific safety assist features, which are usually not part of the standard equipment of cars in the Mustang category.
· The latest Euro NCAP protocol overall rating is based on 4 pillars and the results for Mustang are:
o Pedestrian Protection: five-stars (64%). The Mustang is equipped with a state of the art pop-up hood, which actively reduces the risk of injury to pedestrians.
o Adult Occupant: Four-stars (72%). ANCAP comments that in the frontal offset test the driver’s head contacted the steering wheel and the passenger’s head contacted the dashboard. Despite this, the dummy head injury values for Mustang shown in the ANCAP Technical Report for the Frontal Offset Test are still very low. The ANCAP Technical Report states for injury outcomes in the frontal offset test, driver and front passenger neck protection is rated as green/good and head protection is rated as yellow/acceptable. In the full width frontal test, the driver’s head and neck protection is rated as green/good. The overall adult occupant protection for Mustang rated by ANCAP using the latest Euro NCAP protocol is ‘acceptable’ (four-stars).
o Child Occupant: Three-stars (32%). Euro NCAP has a very strong focus on family car safety characteristics. The child occupant tests are focused on children of 10 years and younger (or equal to 140 cm and below). An important element of the Euro NCAP child safety rating includes elements such as ease of ingress/egress of the child seat, an area where 2-door coupes have a disadvantage.
o Safety Assistance Features: Two-stars (16%). Euro NCAP has a strong focus on specific safety assist features, which the Mustang is not currently equipped with in Australia such as Autonomous Emergency Braking. The two-star result (16%) in the Active Safety Assist pillar for not offering DATs such as AEB, determined the overall result of a two-star rating.
· Ford is committed to continued improvement in vehicle safety, and the 2018 Mustang in Australia will be equipped with driver assistance features such as AEB and Lane Keeping Aid.
· Mustang is the only vehicle in the sports car class to be tested under the rigorous new E-NCAP protocol.
· The Mustang features a suite of advanced safety features as standard including an ‘active’ pop-up bonnet, as well as driver and front passenger airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags. It also offers standard curtain airbags, and driver/passenger side impact airbags. A Driver and front passenger seatbelt reminder system is standard.
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Martin Günsberg
Ford Australia Communications | Ford Motor Company
