ANCAP Announces 5 Star Safety Rating for Australian Developed Ford Ranger

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - Oct 28, 2011: The Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) today announced it has awarded the all-new Ford Ranger a 5-star safety rating.

The Australian-developed Ford Ranger achieved the top ANCAP safety rating based on detailed assessments from tests conducted by EuroNCAP, which reported the results achieved by the all-new Ford Ranger as both remarkable and impressive. In fact, the all-new Ranger is the first pickup to ever be awarded a 5-star safety rating by EuroNCAP. The Ranger scored 89 per cent for overall safety – the best score ever earned by a pickup and one of the highest scores recorded by Euro NCAP for any type of vehicle.

"This is a very important announcement for our customers," said Bob Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Australia.

"When we developed the all-new Ranger we set out to establish many new benchmarks and we are hugely proud of the results we have achieved. Today's announcement is further proof we have developed a vehicle that delivers the levels of safety customers expect in this all-important vehicle segment."

The ANCAP 5-star rating applies to all Ranger double cabs, all Ranger super cabs, all Ranger hi-rider single cabs and all Ranger pick-ups sold in Australia, and all Ranger variants sold in New Zealand.

Innovative active safety and driver assistance technologies
The all-new Ranger employs a comprehensive safety arsenal, including innovative active safety and driver assistance technologies to help drivers avoid accidents. A key standard feature is the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) that uses advanced sensors to constantly monitor the vehicle’s behaviour and assist stability and control.

The Trailer Sway Control system monitors the behaviour of the tow vehicle and trailer array to sense the advent of trailer sway and apply braking countermeasures to reduce its effects. Adaptive Load Control provides additional stability assurance for drivers dealing with heavy payloads.

When driving downhill, Hill Descent Control ensures that the brakes will be applied to control the vehicle at a set speed. Or when stopping on a steep grade, Hill Launch Assist helps the driver to pull away confidently without creeping backwards, even when fully laden.

The Ranger's ESP system includes off-road logic which recognises when the pick-up is driven on rough roads and modifies the system to ensure the best balance between stability and timeliness of interventions.

The all-new Ford Ranger is now on sale in Australia. The first model available to customers is the double cab 4x4 (in either XL or XLT specification) powered by a 147kW 3.2-litre Duratorq TDCi five-cylinder engine.