PEACE OF MIND: Ford Focus Safety & Security

• Ford dynamic safety engineering boosts intrinsic vehicle stability and potential for accident avoidance
• Latest four-wheel anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brake-force distribution (EBD)
• Ultra-stiff passenger safety cell and crumple zones provide optimum occupant protection-
• Driver, passenger and optional head-and-chest side air bags provide all-around occupant protection
• Advanced safety belt systems include pre-tensioners and load-limiting retractors calibrated to work in harmony with front air bags
• Child protection by ISOFIX child safety seat attachments and tether attachments
• Multi-way seat adjustment and ergonomic layout of controls help minimize driver distraction
• SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft (immobilizer) system and secure remote locking
• Smart alternator, battery saver, shroud and life indicator reduce the risk of a dead battery.

Active Safety: Intrinsic stability
Agility, stability, precision and comfort. These core attributes are central to Ford's chassis development engineers. Yet they provided the same development brief for the car's safety engineers, as they form the core of Ford's Dynamic Safety Engineering (DSE) philosophy. DSE stresses a "whole car" approach to safety, with a primary focus on vehicle attributes that help the driver avoid an accident, particularly in extreme conditions.

The precise feel of the steering and brakes inspire confidence, while the car's ability to change direction, hold the road and keep to the chosen line through bends provides agility, stability and a secure feeling of being in control. These qualities have been engineered into Ford Focus using extensive computer modeling, laboratory testing and thousands of hours driving on test tracks. They have been optimized and fine-tuned to ensure that every new Ford Focus behaves the same way - consistently and predictably in all situations.

Particular attention has been placed on trying to ensure that Ford Focus remains highly controllable and stable when approaching its dynamic limits. The result is a car with new levels of high-speed emergency driving dynamics, including an accident avoidance capability that sets new standards in the class.

Passive safety: Engineered beyond mandatory requirements Ford's exceptional computing power provided Ford Focus' safety engineers with a powerful tool to help understand the forces involved in a crash. More than 100 complex and highly realistic simulations were performed to provide accurate predictions of how the car would perform in a real-world incident. This gave engineers the ability to design, test, re-design, refine and re-test the car's body structure and restraint systems in scores of different crash modes before even the first prototype car was assembled.

As a result, Ford Focus meets more than 100 different real-world crash tests, modes and events - far beyond existing or currently proposed legislation - including all mandatory U.S. and European crash tests. Ford Focus also meets Ford's far more rigid internal standards. For example, the car's rigid barrier test was conducted at 35 mph, rather than the required 30 mph, representing an increase of 30 percent in absorbed crash energy.

Ultra-stiff body structure protects passenger cell Ford Focus' ultra-stiff body structure has been engineered to achieve maximum crash energy absorption through controlled collapse, minimizing impact forces to the passenger compartment. Front and rear bumper sections are designed to resist low-speed impacts with minimal damage - for ease and low cost of repair - while the structure behind the bumpers is designed to disperse energy as widely as possible and control structural collapse.

At the front, beyond the bumper support beam, the car's cross member is made from ultra-high-strength steel so it is robust and stable and will not tear upon impact. Resistance to tearing helps spread crash energy into the car's lower side rails, which is particularly effective in offset impacts. Additional to the progressive collapse of the lower side rails which absorbs most of the energy ahead of the passenger safety cell, a secondary load path channels the remaining energy over the roof and around the door to ensure safe evacuation of passengers.

At the rear, the objective is to minimize intrusion of the passenger compartment in a rear impact, while also ensuring that the doors remain operable and the integrity of the fuel system is maintained. This is achieved via the progressive collapse of the rear side rails, supported by the wheel housings. Stamped and laser-welded, the side rails are made up of three different metal gauges - changing in thickness from 1.6 mm to 2.6 mm (in the area of the fuel tank) and 2.4 mm - to provide progressive controlled collapse, while maintaining fuel system integrity. The compound structure avoids over-gauging near the rear bumper and eliminates the need to add reinforcement further back. Vehicle weight is thus reduced by more than two pounds per side and the number of parts and welding operations are reduced, improving assembly tolerances and providing robust control of the collapse performance.

For side-impact protection, Ford Focus exceeds even the most stringent legal proposals. The entire side structure, which includes door beams and anti-burst door latches, is designed to absorb energy and reduce intrusion, especially above the door bars. To achieve this, the B-pillar is made from a laser-welded, high-strength steel blank, with a gauge thickness that reduces from 2.25 mm at the top to 1.1 mm at its base. Additional inner reinforcement, designed to increase rigidity, makes it highly resistant to "kinking," so it can more effectively channel crash energy into both the rocker and roof rail, and support the side air bag during deployment.

Integrated restraint systems
All elements of Ford Focus' restraint system work in harmony with each other so that the whole structure is integrated and fine-tuned to provide maximum protection. This starts with the locking of the inertia safety belt reels, which occurs approximately 6 milliseconds after full frontal impact - all timings depend upon the nature of the impact.

Approximately 4 milliseconds later - before the head and chest begin to move forward - the air bag sensors trigger the front air bags and the small pyrotechnic charges in the pre-tensioners, which minimize any slack in the safety belt and negate the effects of bulky or layered clothing. The front air bags take approximately 35 milliseconds to fully inflate, which is completed just before the occupant meets the bag, approximately 50 milliseconds after impact.

To reduce chest loading and minimize injury, Ford Focus is equipped with load-limiting devices within the inertia reel assemblies. These pay-out belt webbing after a pre-determined load is exceeded. This process is progressive and occurs between 45 and 70 milliseconds after impact, ensuring that the cross belt pressure against the occupant's chest remains fairly constant. By avoiding peak loads, the potential for chest injury in very severe impacts is reduced.

The load-limiting device consists of a torsion bar within the traditional inertia reel, and the typical pay-out is six inches. The system is calibrated to help ensure that front seat occupants do not meet the air bag until the optimum point, which is just as it is beginning to deflate. The progressive pay-out also ensures that the upper torso is less likely to twist, an action that can compromise the efficiency of the front air bag.

Side air bags and head-impact protection
Ford Focus' optional head-and-chest combination side air bags provide enhanced head and chest protection in certain side impacts. In addition to acting as a barrier between the occupant and the side of the vehicle, the tall, 4-gallon side air bag - stored in the front seat back's outer side bolster - is designed to cushion the head, minimizing lateral head injuries.

Ford Focus also is the first vehicle to benefit from extensive research and tests conducted at Ford's new head-impact protection facility. Believed to be one of the most advanced facilities of its kind, it allows testing of dummy headforms impacting the car's interior trim. Such data aid in the development of sympathetic, occupant-friendly trim panels that minimize the potential for head injuries. In Ford Focus, the B-pillar was subjected to an extensive special study resulting in a new design of energy-absorbing trim panel.

Door trim panels are similarly sympathetic. In the event of a side impact, the trim panel works in conjunction with foam "pushers" located between the door skin and the interior trim. As the outer door skin begins to deform during a side impact, the foam first absorbs crash energy before it. Together with the trim panel, the foam then spreads the impact across the occupant's body from thigh to pelvis, minimizing localized impact and thus reducing potential injury.

Similar detailing includes foam padding in the foot box, to reduce foot and lower-leg injury during a severe frontal impact.

Rear-seat and child protection
The safety of Ford Focus' rear seat occupants and children has been equally addressed. A three-point inertia reel safety belt for the center rear seat is standard, as are reinforcements to allow fitting of ISOFIX child safety seat fixings for the outer seats and child seat tether attachments.

Rear seat-backs, hinges and catches are reinforced to resist movement of unsecured luggage. Front seat backs, head restraints and side trim panels are designed with rear-seat occupants in mind and are, thus, free from any protrusions.

Latest SecuriLock™ safeguard against theft
Ford Focus comes equipped with the latest version of Ford's acclaimed SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft system. SecuriLock™ is a high-security engine immobilizer operated via a miniature transponder within the keyhead. It transmits a unique coded signal - with several trillion possible codes - to a transceiver situated around the steering lock. Once the key is identified as correct, the engine is mobilized. Without it, the engine will not start and is effectively dead.

SecuriLock™ offers several advantages to the customer. The system arms itself, eliminating human error through forgetfulness. The interception of the key code by a thief is virtually impossible because the transponder only has the power to pass the code by radio to the transceiver when it is within the electrical field of the transceiver. SecuriLock™ also incorporates a special erasing procedure and smart "learning" mode to maintain security after resale and eliminate the requirement for a master key.

The Focus security features also extend to the radio which incorporates a removable security bezel to provide increased protection against radio theft. The four central station-select buttons can be unlocked as a strip and easily slipped into a pocket or handbag. This exposes a reflective, highly visible panel behind and a flashing LED telltale light.