Ford has earned a number of safety awards and recognition in recent months thanks in part to its standard automatic emergency braking feature, including IIHS Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ awards for the Ford Explorer, Ford Escape, Ford Edge, Lincoln Corsair, Lincoln Aviator, and Ford F-150. The Ford Bronco fell just short of being awarded a Top Safety Pick award because of its headlights and head restraints, while other vehicles including the 2021 Ford Mustang have recently received a bevy of standard safety features. Now, Ford has achieved yet another notable goal related to safety – it has fulfilled its voluntary pledge to equip the vast majority of its U.S. light-duty vehicles with automatic emergency braking, and it did so ahead of schedule.
According to IIHS, Ford and Lincoln installed automatic emergency braking (AEB) on over 95 percent of the vehicles produced between September 1st, 2020, and August 31st, 2021. FoMoCo, along with a grand total of 20 automakers, had previously pledged to reach that goal by the production year beginning September 1st, 2022, which means that Ford managed to beat the mark by a full two years.
Honda/Acura also achieved this goal over the same time period, joining Ford and Audi, BMW, Hyundai/Genesis, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota/Lexus, Volkswagen, and Volvo, all of which were already at the 95 percent threshold. Several others have yet to achieve the 95 percent target, however, including Mitsubishi, Nissan/Infiniti, Kia, and Maserati.
“The final sprint these lagging automakers are making shows that a rapid rollout of advanced safety features is possible,” says IIHS President David Harkey. “With the Ford and Honda brands hitting the target, this essential safety feature is now on a huge number of affordable, top-selling vehicles.”
We’ll have more on Ford’s safety efforts and technology soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for around-the-clock Ford news coverage.
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