FORD FIVE HUNDRED, MERCURY MONTEGO TAKE HOME IIHS BEST PICK RATING
2005 Ford Five Hundred
* 2005 Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest technical safety rating of “Good” and a “Best Pick” designation for offset frontal crash performance.
* Five Hundred and Montego also have received the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) top five-star crash-test rating for front- and side-impacts – the only 2005 model passenger cars tested to achieve this performance without the optional side air bags.
* Class-leading affordability and safety combine to make Five Hundred and Montego two of the most attractive large sedans for today’s safety conscious consumers.
DEARBORN , Mich. , June 20, 2005 – The 2005 Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego large sedans today added another award to their safety “trophy case” by earning IIHS’ highest technical safety rating of “Good” and a “Best Pick” designation for offset frontal crash performance. The sedans’ “Best Pick” designation by IIHS is awarded to vehicles that are top performers in a particular class. 2005 Mercury Montego
Five Hundred and Montego are the only 2005 model passenger cars to have received a “Best Pick” designation from IIHS and NHTSA’s top five-star crash-test rating for front- and side-impacts for vehicles tested without the optional side air bags. A two-row Safety Canopy™ side air bag system with rollover sensor is available and provides additional protection not only in certain side collisions, but in rollover events as well.
“We are not surprised that the Five Hundred and Montego are IIHS ‘Best Picks,’” says Steve Lyons, group vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service , Ford North America. “As demonstrated in the stringent IIHS crash tests, we’ve designed these vehicles to provide a high level of safety.”
“It’s a true testament to Five Hundred and Montego safety engineering that they can achieve top scores in both IIHS and NHTSA testing,” Lyons added. “These are the only 2005 model passenger cars to have received a ‘Best Pick’ designation from IIHS and NHTSA’s top five-star crash-test rating for front- and side-impacts for vehicles tested without the optional side air bags.”
IIHS recognized the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego because their structures and restraints’ systems were designed and fine-tuned to provide a high level of safety by achieving a balance between ability to absorb crash pulse energy and attain a controlled rate of occupant deceleration.
Safer by Design
Ford’s new D3 car architecture, which is shared between the Ford Five Hundred and Freestyle and the Mercury Montego, is engineered to offer a structure with crush zones designed into impact areas. Excess energy is transferred around the passenger compartment into a high-strength safety cage. A patent-pending new design tailors the steering column’s collapse to the driver’s size and safety-belt use for enhanced protection.
Rear-impact performance is so advanced that it is designed to meet future federal crash standards. Side-impact protection comes from a combination of available air bag technology and structural features that helps safeguard occupants from intrusion by channeling crash energy away from the passenger compartment. An innovative cross-car beam “SPACE TM Architecture” under the front seats reinforces the structure between the B-pillars, which directs energy away from passengers.
Frontal impact performance will meet the new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, which requires the restraints system to automatically adjust to the size of the front-seat passenger. The air bag controller uses front passenger classification sensing to determine if the seat is occupied, and if so, whether the passenger is an adult, a child or a child in a child safety seat. Air bag deployment is tailored – or altogether suppressed – to help provide the proper level of protection. The lower anchors and tethers for children, or LATCH system, provide mounting points for compatible child seats in the second row.
The Ford Five Hundred, starting at a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price of $22,840, and the Mercury Montego, starting at $25,040, represent incredible large sedan value for today’s safety conscious consumers.