Safe Thinking

Take note: Less safe and unsafe are two different things.

Being noted as one of the world's least safe cars in 2007 by Forbes magazine didn't stop the Ford Motor Company from making it to the list of safest cars for 2008 as released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Electronic stability control (ESC) was regarded as one of the top criteria used by IIHS.

"Vehicles should be designed to provide good occupant protection when crashes occur, but now with ESC we have the possibility of preventing many crashes altogether," IIHS President Adrian Lund said.

The secret lies in Ford's Personal Safety system that ensures the protection of its passengers. Like what the new Ford Focus has. Front, side and curtain airbags plus a strengthened body shell and definitely, durable and competent seatbelts.

Indeed, nothing beats the value of using seatbelts in order to safely arrive in one's destination (rather than heaven or hell, of course). It is claimed that this device saves about 11,000 Americans from car accidents annually. In fact, Ford Motors pioneered the development of automotive lap belts back in 1956. Ever wondered how the world's first seatbelt differ from an Acura Integra seatbelt? Made out of tightly woven nylon, the belts were said to be two inches wide to provide best protection to the vital parts of the car passengers' body.

Now, various innovations have already been made to car seat belts. From inflatable seatbelt to invisible seat belts, who knows?

So long as active minds exist, nothing's impossible. Next time, arguments arise about the word safe, think of seatbelts. Think of Ford and the revolutionary advancement it has done for car safety.

Ford, Toyota, GM Rev Up Hybrids

Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors said they can display plug-in hybrids in showrooms in a matter of half a decade. The major automakers added they will be offering dramatic increases in fuel economy plus modest price premiums.

At the upcoming Washington, D.C. Auto Show, Ford will showcase its Escape hybrid plug-in SUV. The automaker will develop 20 lithium batteries for trials by Southern California Edison.

According to reports, plug-in hybrids are capable of running 50-100 miles per gallon on short trips primarily using their battery power. "If we can't decide within five years whether we can do this, something is wrong," said Greg Frenette, FoMoCo’s chief engineer for plug-in and fuel-cell vehicles.

Plug-in hybrids are like ordinary hybrids which have gasoline and electric as power sources. The only difference is that they have bigger batteries which can be charged using a household outlet. The extra battery capability allows them to run on battery-only power for the first 5 or 10 miles. Then it goes back to normal hybrid mode, amalgamating the power sources.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Energy Department said it will award up to $30 million to projects intended to "deliver up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging" and to make plug-in hybrids "cost-competitive by 2014 and ready for commercialization by 2016." The government department said 40 miles would cover most commutes and 70% of average driving.

The catalyst that is expected to spawn hybrid revolution is the progress on lithium-ion batteries. The latter is said to store more energy and much smaller in size than nickel-metal hydride batteries, which is commonly used today.

Toyota, meanwhile, aims "to be sure they're robust enough to withstand the extreme charging-discharging cycles in a plug-in hybrid, and still last the life of the car," said Jaycie Chitwood, senior planner at the automaker’s advanced technologies unit in the USA.

At the NAIAS, Toyota displayed a plug-in Prius hybrid prototype. It said the company could start regular production within a few years. "It's more when than if," said Chitwood.

General Motors, on the other hand, said it plans a plug-in version of its Saturn Vue hybrid "as soon as 2010."

credit: USA Today

Ford Flaunts Verve Subcompact

To pull more shoppers closer, Ford has showcased a new subcompact at the Detroit Auto Show. Such was an effort to give auto buffs some hints of the future.

“The Ford global design team remembered, not so fondly, the econo-boxes of the 1970s and created the Verve concept as a vision of just how good a small car can be,” said Ford Design Chief J Mays. “Verve aims to ‘right’ North American buyers’ earlier small-car experiences by offering a product that changes customers’ views of small cars from ‘cheap’ to chic – and from affordable to desirable.”

"We know that when we come out with our small car we have to be a heck of a lot better than our competitors," Mark Fields, Ford's president for the Americas, said in an interview.

“Millennials will be the defining group of customers in the future, driving all types of consumer trends,” said Jim Farley, Ford’s group vice president, Marketing and Communications. “Ford’s European-based cars are a great fit for this generation of drivers, who have grown up with the Internet and mobile phones as necessities, not luxuries – believing that bigger isn’t necessarily better, precision is everything and technology rules.”

GizMag describes the Verve as:

“…the concept has been developed with a global product development strategy in mind and the company aims to capitalize on an expected boom in the North American small car segment over the next three years. In the U.S., it's predicted that sales of small cars will grow by 800,000, or 25% – to a record 3.4 million units by 2012 - and small cars and crossovers are the only vehicles with projected near-term growth in the U.S. The driving force in this market is a group of young people aged 13 to 28 years – dubbed ‘Millennials.’ Today, this group stands 1.7 billion strong worldwide and will represent 28% of the total U.S. population by 2010.”

The Verve concept is built off of a design architecture flexible enough to yield 3 unique vehicles. The North American Verve sedan, painted in Rouge Red, has been slightly modified. It features idiosyncratic LED side markers, inverted trapezoidal front lower grille, and sophisticated technology such as dynamic sound system, refined electronic navigation as well as in-car phone functionality.

As I see it, the Verve will surely captivate a good number of car buffs.