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• The Ford Taurus - America's smartest full-size sedan - has been named "2010 Best Redesigned Vehicle" by Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com®
• According to kbb.com, the all-new Taurus offers great value, build quality and technology at an affordable price
• In addition to its upscale design and engaging driving experience, the 2010 Ford Taurus offers an impressive set of standard and available technologies that add convenience, connectivity, safety and value for customers

DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 11, 2009 - For the second consecutive year, Ford has captured Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com "Best Redesigned Vehicle" award, this time for the hot-selling Taurus sedan. Last year, the honor went to the 2009 Ford F-150.

"This is not your father's Taurus. For us it's a massive departure," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com. "It reinvigorates a brand that everybody wants to be proud of, applaud, and be excited about." 

Bell says it wasn't just one feature that earned Ford's all-new Taurus the distinction of being named 2010 Best Redesigned Vehicle. 

"It's the whole package - great value, great build quality and great technology," he said. "We at Kelley Blue Book couldn't help but embrace the new Taurus."

In addition to its expressive, upscale design and engaging driving dynamics, the 2010 Ford Taurus offers an unprecedented array of technologies typically reserved for luxury cars at a price that is affordable. Its impressive standard and available technologies add convenience, connectivity, safety and value for customers. These include Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Warning with Brake Support, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS®) with Cross Traffic Alert, MyKey? parental programmability, Ford SYNC® and Voice-Activated Navigation with SIRIUS Travel Link?. 

"What's amazing about the Taurus is that it just bristles with technology at such a responsible and very acceptable price point," said Bell. "I think that's what makes it somewhat revolutionary."

According to Taurus marketing manager Pei-Wen Hsu, Ford's all-new flagship sedan is generating new excitement at Ford dealerships.

"Just like the 1986 original, the new Taurus is redefining the full-size sedan segment," she said. "It is creating a halo effect in our showroom and attracting younger, more diverse customers to the Ford brand." 

Today's recognition from Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com is the latest in a string of accolades for the 2010 Ford Taurus. Earlier this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the Taurus was named International Car of the Year, and it received kbb.com "2010 Best Resale Value Award" in the full-size car category. And in January, the 2010 Taurus will serve as the official car of the 2010 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show®) in Las Vegas. 

For more information about the 2010 Best Redesigned Vehicle from Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com, please visit www.kbb.com/best2010redesign.

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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 200,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.

About Kelley Blue Book
Since 1926, Kelley Blue Book, The Trusted Resource®, has provided vehicle buyers and sellers with the new and used vehicle information they need to accomplish their goals with confidence. The company's top-rated Web site, www.kbb.com, provides the most up-to-date pricing and values, including the New Car Blue Book® Value, which reveals what people actually are paying for new cars. The company also reports vehicle pricing and values via products and services, including software products and the famous Blue Book® Official Guide. According to the C.A. Walker Research Solutions, Inc. - 2008 Spring Automotive Web Site Usefulness Study, kbb.com is the most useful automotive information Web site among new and used vehicle shoppers, and half of online shoppers visit kbb.com. Kbb.com is a leading provider of new car prices, car reviews and news, used car blue book values, auto classifieds and car dealer locations. No other medium reaches more in-market vehicle shoppers than kbb.com. For more information, please visit www.kbb.com. 

2011 Mustang

Strong and athletic engines have always been a big part of the Mustang story. And with the muscle you can find under the hood of the 2011 Mustang V6, Ford isn't just adding a new chapter; it's raising the bar on V6 power. So tell everyone in the fast lane that this new pony is hitting the street with a combination of performance and fuel economy that cannot be beat.?

It all starts with the innovative Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing (TiVCT) technology that efficiently delivers power to this pony. The all-new 3.7-liter V6 turns out 305-HP with 280 lbs.-ft. torque using four valves per cylinder and TiVCT. And when all this power is projected to get 30 mpg hwy,* you know the 2011 Mustang V6 is destined to change the game.

To crank out 305 hp with 30 mpg hwy,* and deliver the truly one-of-a-kind feeling of a Mustang, the TiVCT V6 engine makes the most of its transfer of power from air, fuel and exhaust. And let's face it; Mustang wouldn't be America's sports car if it didn't know how to harness power.

When all is said and done, this big new thinking comes together to produce numbers that will have everybody talking about the 2011 Mustang.

*Available six-speed transmission. Ford preliminary data. Pending EPA certification.

? With six-speed automatic transmission. Ford preliminary data. Pending EPA certification. Versus 2009/2010 models.

Coming Spring 2010.

News Release | November 18, 2009     

new requirement to win is good rating for protection in rollovers

Subaru is the only manufacturer with a winner in all 4 vehicle classes in which it competes. This automaker earns 5 awards for 2010. Ford and subsidiary Volvo have 6 winners, and Volkswagen/Audi has 5. Chrysler earns 4 awards, continuing a recent trend of improving the crashworthiness of its vehicles. Two new small cars, the Nissan Cube and Kia Soul, join the Top Safety Pick list for 2010.

"With the addition of our new roof strength evaluation, our crash test results now cover all 4 of the most common kinds of crashes," says Institute president Adrian Lund. "Consumers can use this list to zero in on the vehicles that are on the top rung for safety."

Good rollover ratings: A new requirement for strong roofs winnows the list of Top Safety Pick winners from a record 94 in 2009. The addition of this criterion recognizes manufacturers with vehicles that provide good protection in rollovers, which kill more than 9,000 people in passenger vehicles each year. The first rollover ratings were released in March. Vehicles rated good have roofs more than twice as strong as the current federal standard requires. The Institute estimates that such roofs reduce the risk of serious and fatal injury in single-vehicle rollovers by about 50 percent compared with roofs meeting the minimum requirement.

"Cars and SUVs that win Top Safety Pick are designs that go far beyond minimum federal safety standards," Lund points out.

Missing the mark: Not a single model from the world's biggest automaker by sales is represented among this year's winners. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion subsidiaries had a strong showing in 2009 with 11 winners but were shut out for 2010. Four other manufacturers whose vehicles have earned Top Safety Pick in the past didn't have a qualifying vehicle for 2010: BMW, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Saab. The Honda Accord picked up the award the past 2 years, but the 2010 didn't earn the required good roof strength rating to qualify (the roof is rated acceptable). The Ford Fusion is another midsize car that dropped off the list for the same reason.

"Honda and Ford would have to make only minor changes to achieve good ratings for roof strength, as the Accord and Fusion just missed the mark," Lund explains.

The midsize Toyota Camry would have qualified with good ratings, except for its rear crash evaluation. This car's seats and head restraints are rated marginal for protection against whiplash injury. A change to good would have earned the Camry a Top Safety Pick for 2010. Other automakers have improved head restraints to win. For example, inadequate head restraints kept earlier Chrysler models from earning awards, but in 2010 the Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Avenger and Journey, and Jeep Patriot all earn good ratings and Top Safety Pick. Likewise, General Motors upgraded the seats and head restraints in the Chevrolet Malibu to win.

Volvo glitch: The Institute identified a problem with the Volvo XC60 in the side test. A piece of plastic trim on the driver seat pushed against a service release button for the safety belt, which then detached from its anchor during the test.

"This would be a serious issue if it happened in a real crash, but it's not likely to happen and it's fixable," Lund explains. "Still, belts shouldn't come loose in a crash test. Volvo is fixing the problem so it won't be an issue with XC60 models produced after November 2009. Top Safety Pick applies only to these modified XC60s."

Consumers who own 2010 XC60s already on the road should see their Volvo dealer for repairs, Lund advises.

Improved protection: Front and side impacts and rollovers killed 24,056 passenger vehicle occupants in 2008. Rear-end crashes usually aren't fatal but result in a large proportion of crash injuries. Neck sprain or strain is the most commonly reported injury in two-thirds of insurance claims for injuries in all kinds of crashes.

"In safety terms, we've come very far, very fast in just the past decade," Lund says. "When the Institute began conducting frontal tests for consumer information in 1995, few vehicles earned top ratings. Now almost all do. Most cars failed the side tests we added in 2003. Test results in that initial round were so bad we nearly broke our budget for repairing the crash test dummy, but now most vehicles ace the side test thanks to side airbags and stronger side structures. Factor in improved head restraints to protect against whiplash and electronic stability control to prevent crashes, and consumers are the clear winners."

Safety equipment is increasingly standard. Ninety-two percent of 2010 model cars, 99 percent of SUVs, and 66 percent of pickup trucks have standard side airbags with head protection. Electronic stability control is standard on 85 percent of cars, 100 percent of SUVs, and 62 percent of pickups.

"Now that roof strength is a priority, we think manufacturers will move quickly to bolster roofs to do well in our roof strength test. This means consumers likely will have more Top Safety Pick choices for 2011," Lund predicts.

Keep in mind vehicle size and weight, he adds, because larger, heavier vehicles generally afford better protection in serious crashes than smaller, lighter ones. Even with a Top Safety Pick, a small car isn't as crashworthy as a bigger one.

The Institute awarded the first Top Safety Pick winners to 2006 models and then raised the bar the next year by requiring good rear test results and electronic stability control as either standard or optional equipment. Early this year the Institute alerted auto manufacturers to the new criteria for roof crush and asked them to nominate candidates for testing.

How vehicles are evaluated: The Institute's frontal crashworthiness evaluations are based on results of 40 mph frontal offset crash tests. Each vehicle's overall evaluation is based on measurements of intrusion into the occupant compartment, injury measures recorded on a Hybrid III dummy in the driver seat, and analysis of slow-motion film to assess how well the restraint system controlled dummy movement during the test.

Side evaluations are based on performance in a crash test in which the side of a vehicle is struck by a barrier moving at 31 mph. The barrier represents the front end of a pickup or SUV. Ratings reflect injury measures recorded on 2 instrumented SID-IIs dummies representing a 5th percentile woman, assessment of head protection countermeasures, and the vehicle's structural performance during the impact.

Rear crash protection is rated according to a two-step procedure. Starting points for the ratings are measurements of head restraint geometry - the height of a restraint and its horizontal distance behind the back of the head of an average-size man. Seat/head restraints with good or acceptable geometry are tested dynamically using a dummy that measures forces on the neck. This test simulates a collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck in the rear at 20 mph. Seats without good or acceptable geometry are rated poor overall because they can't be positioned to protect many people.

In the roof strength test, a metal plate is pushed against 1 side of a roof at a constant speed. To earn a good rating for rollover protection, the roof must withstand a force of 4 times the vehicle's weight before reaching 5 inches of crush. This is called a strength-to-weight ratio. For an acceptable rating, the minimum required strength-to-weight ratio is 3.25. A marginal rating value is 2.5. Anything lower than that is rated poor.