High-Strength Steels and Advanced Airbags Enhance Occupant Protection in Ford Transit Custom

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All-new Ford Transit Custom is engineered to deliver outstanding occupant protection

Optimised bodyshell featuring more than 40 per cent high strength and ultra-high-strength steels; developed using more than 4,500 virtual crash simulations and 30 physical crash tests

Enhanced restraint system includes the standard fitment of side thorax and curtain airbags for front seat passengers, as well as the dual front airbags

First one-tonne commercial vehicle in Europe designed under full consideration of the new Euro NCAP Heavy Vehicle protocol, including pedestrian protection

MELBOURNE, 20 Feb, 2014 – The all-new Ford Transit Custom is engineered to deliver outstanding occupant protection, as well as being carefully developed to reduce the severity of injury to pedestrians.
The new model is the first Transit to feature ultra-high-strength boron steel in its body structure. High-strength and ultra-high-strength steels account for more than 40 per cent of the body. For the first time in Transit, an enhanced restraint system now features side thorax and curtain air-bags to supplement the dual front air bags as standard.
Among its other safety innovations, Transit Custom is also the first new vehicle in its segment in Europe to have been developed with consideration of the latest Euro NCAP Protocol for Heavy Vehicles, which sets tough new standards for the assessment of vehicle safety in this category, including pedestrian protection.
Ford sets exceptionally high safety standards for its commercial vehicles as well as its passenger cars. With its all-new, state-of-the-art body structure and restraints technology, the Transit Custom is engineered to deliver outstanding protection.
Ford has also broken new ground for one-tonne commercial vehicles by introducing comprehensive pedestrian protection features with the new Euro NCAP HV protocol firmly in mind.

Optimised body structure with over 40% high-strength-steel
To enhance occupant protection, the Transit Custom features an optimised body structure that features ultra-high-strength boron steel for the first time on a Transit.
In total, more than 40 per cent of the body is made from high-strength or ultra-high-strength steels, resulting in a strong and light body which is designed to offer high levels of crash protection.
Engineers have applied boron steel in the A-pillars and B-pillars, as well as in the structural members beneath the cab floor, which help stabilise the passenger cell during an impact.
To optimise the design of the body crash structure, Ford engineers carried out more than 4,500 detailed computer simulations of the full body-shell, covering all of the key crash modes, before validating the performance in 30 full-vehicle physical crash tests.

Enhanced restraint system
The Transit Custom is equipped with an enhanced restraint system that now makes curtain airbags standard for the front seat occupants, in addition to driver and passenger airbags and seat-mounted side thorax airbags.
The activation of the airbags is more accurate and controlled thanks to an additional crash sensor positioned near the front grille that works together with the main airbag sensor, which is now located in the centre of the vehicle under the cab floor.
As on Ford’s latest passenger cars, a non-axial stroking steering column is also now fitted, to help reduce loads on the occupant’s head and chest in the event of a high-speed frontal impact.
All seats in the Transit Custom are fitted with integral three-point lap and shoulder style seat belts, with pre-tensioners and load limiters as standard on the outboard front seats.

Engineered for pedestrian protection
The Transit Custom sets new standards in its class by being the first new one-tonne commercial vehicle developed with the latest Euro NCAP Protocol for pedestrian protection in mind.
The new model is engineered with a comprehensive range of features in the front end of the vehicle which are carefully designed to minimise the severity of injury to pedestrians, focusing on the design of the bumper and bonnet, the front structure, and the layout of the engine compartment.

Like Ford’s latest passenger cars such as the Focus, the new vehicle adopts a new dual motor windscreen wiper system, which allows the main elements of the motors and wiper mechanism to be moved away from the centre of the vehicle.
Other features include a bonnet with an interior structure produced in a “hexagenous” energy absorbing pattern, a front bumper with an additional deformable fascia element that is designed to help minimise lower leg injuries, and a “soft cowl” and collapsible instrument panel structure carefully engineered to reduce the effect of head impacts at the base of the windscreen by minimising hard contact points.

Source: Ford Media