Sesame Street and Ford Present Bilingual Automotive Safety Campaign In Kansas City
4 March 1998
Sesame Street and Ford Present Bilingual Automotive Safety Campaign In Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, March 4 -- Ford Motor Company and
Children's Television Workshop (CTW) have teamed up to bring "Buckle Up with
Sesame Street," their 1998 national multi-city safety tour, to the Kansas City
Auto Show.
The live song and dance program is designed to teach children and parents
safe seating techniques and the importance of wearing safety belts. The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 80
percent of children are improperly restrained when they ride in cars and
trucks.
"Buckle Up with Sesame Street," featuring Elmo, Rosita and Telly Monster,
debuts in Kansas City during Ford's news conference at the Kansas City Auto
Show, Wednesday, March 4, at 1 p.m. The show will be presented to the public
at the Kansas City Auto Show, Wednesday, March 4-Sunday, March 8.
"Buckle Up with Sesame Street" is one part of the three-year alliance
between Ford and CTW, the producers of Sesame Street, to deliver automotive
safety messages to children and parents in English and Spanish.
The Kansas City show is part of a 15-city national tour that is traveling
to community centers, malls and auto shows in major cities throughout the
United States, including New York, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, and Los Angeles.
Certified nurses trained in child safety provide detailed child passenger
safety seat demonstrations after each "Buckle Up With Sesame Street"
presentation. Emergency Nurses CARE, a multifaceted organization dealing with
many aspects of injury prevention, has partnered with Ford to provide this
service.
"Buckle Up With Sesame Street" emphasizes these key safety messages:
* Always wear a safety belt while driving or riding in a car or truck.
* Children are safest properly restrained in the back seat.
* Use approved child safety seats for children weighing less than 40
pounds.
* Children between 4 and 11 years of age and weighing between 40 and 90
pounds should use a booster cushion to help position the safety belt
across the shoulder and hips.
* Rear-facing child seats always should be placed in the back seat of
vehicles or in the front seat of trucks equipped with the passenger air
bag switch in the "off" position.
* Front seats should be moved as far back as possible from air bags.
Educating parents and children will help reduce auto-related injuries and
deaths.
Facts highlighting the need for safety education are:
* Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from
5-15.
* Currently, 49 children have been killed by an inflating air bag while
riding in the front seat of a vehicle. Almost all were not properly
restrained.
* Child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 69 percent for
infants and by 47 percent for toddlers.
* Increasing safety belt usage and having children properly restrained in
the back seat is the most effective way to save U.S. lives.
The three-year auto safety campaign is expected to reach millions of U.S.
families through print and broadcast media materials, distributed in both
English and Spanish, along with live character appearances.
The Ford Windstar was chosen to help deliver automotive safety messages
because it is equipped with more than 40 standard safety features and earned
the five-star federal government crash-test rating for providing the best
protection of any minivan. Windstar is the only minivan to receive this
rating.
The campaign includes television advertising for the 1998 Ford Windstar
with Sesame Street characters delivering safety messages; custom published
magazines delivered to more than 2.6 million homes along with the Sesame
Street Parents magazine; a safety content area on the Sesame Street web site;
print and television public service announcements; and safety advice materials
for children and parents distributed through Ford dealerships.
The combination of Ford and Sesame Street is a natural. CTW is the
world's leader in educating and entertaining children, having reached more
than 120 million children in more than 130 countries. It is estimated that 96
percent of all American children have seen Sesame Street by the age of 3.
Sesame Street has a long history of celebrating cultural diversity and
encouraging young children to learn more about their heritage.
SOURCE Ford Motor Company
