Dear Colleagues,
As we come to the end of the first full year in our new home – the €15.5 million crash sled facility in the Merkenich Technical Centre – we thought we’d let you know how we’ve all been getting on.
Axel and I have had one of our busiest years of crash tests yet, including in the new Ford Puma. We’re happy to say that despite a few bumps we’ve managed to get through it all relatively unscathed. In fact, despite the new tests being the toughest yet, we helped Puma achieve a 5-star Euro NCAP rating including a 94 per cent score for adult occupant protection.
Like many families, we’ve been taking a keen interest in new SUVs this year, and have also been instrumental in the Explorer Plug-In Hybrid and Kuga SUVs achieving 5-star safety ratings, as well as the Focus and Mondeo cars.
This has meant lots of learning about Ford’s driver assistance technologies that can help stop the car when they detect pedestrians or stationary vehicles and adjust speed to react to traffic while using cruise control, among other things. We understand why the Ford team works us so hard but, needless to say, this festive break can’t come soon enough!
As for little Johnny, he is doing really well. If it’s made of boron steel and ultra-high-strength 3D Roll and Sweep steel tubes then he wants to sit in it! His engineer says he’s got a real aptitude for safety, so we couldn’t be prouder.
Here’s to a very safe drive to wherever you’re heading this Christmas,
Love,
The Ford Crash Test Dummy Family x
