To help make the in-car connection safer, Ford is improving the SYNC text message readback feature and empowering drivers with a “Do Not Disturb” button so they can decide the level of connectivity and communications they want to manage while in the car. Ford is also taking the proactive step to “lock-out” capabilities that are not relevant to the task of driving while the vehicle is in motion.

Ford believes drivers should keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel and was the first automaker to support a proposed federal ban and state-level legislation banning hand-held texting while driving. In turn, Ford also understands that drivers want to be connected to their mobile worlds while on the road, and texting continues to grow as a preferred communication method. According to a new poll from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, for example, approximately one in four (27 percent) American adults and driving age teens (26 percent) admit to texting while driving.

Bluetooth is the standard technology that allows electronic devices such as a mobile phone and Ford SYNC to communicate with each other wirelessly. To improve the number of phones that can communicate with SYNC so the system can read aloud incoming text messages to drivers, Ford has adopted the latest Bluetooth standard – Message Access Profile (MAP).

Defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, the MAP standard outlines a set of features and procedures used to exchange email, SMS, and MMS messages between devices. It is tailored to the automotive hands-free environment where an onboard terminal device – in this case, SYNC – takes advantage of the messaging capability of a communications device, such as a BlackBerry smartphone.

In addition, Ford continues to limit access to a variety of communication features while the vehicle is in motion, thus encouraging drivers to use voice commands if they wish to access the function. Ford is also taking the proactive step of locking out or limiting content and capabilities of MyFord Touch that are not related to the task of driving when the vehicle is in motion, for instance:

• Screens with information not intended to be used by the driver while driving such as point-of-interest reviews and ratings plus SIRIUS Travel Link sports scores, movie listings, and ski conditions
• Any action that requires typing on a keypad (e.g. typing a navigation destination, editing information)
• Limiting lists of navigation and phone choices that the user can view to fewer entries (e.g. phone contacts, recent phone call entries)

Ford is also working with voice technology pioneers Nuance Communications, and plans to once again raise the bar with the next generation of SYNC. The voice upgrades will be available on the next generation of SYNC powering the new driver connect technology, MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch. The system will make it easier for drivers to use voice control and get what they want more quickly using more natural phrases. Customers will be able to speak more than 10,000 first-level commands, up from only 100 in first-generation SYNC.

Examples of some improvements to SYNC powering MyFord Touch-equipped vehicles include:

More direct, first-level commands

• “Call John Smith” dials the phone number associated with John in a connected phone’s phonebook directly – the user isn’t required to say “Phone” first
• Direct commands related to destinations, like “Find a shoe store” or “Find a hotel,” place users in the navigation system menu where they will be walked through the POI search process
• The command, “Add a phone,” will enter the phone pairing menu and walk users through the connection process – users don’t have to enter a phone submenu to initiate the pairing process

Quicker, easier entry and search

• Navigation entries can be spoken as a single one-shot command; for example, “One American Road, Dearborn,” instead of requiring individual city, street and building number entries
• Brand names are recognized by the navigation POI menu, allowing drivers to look for chain restaurants, shoe stores, department stores and more, as well as regional and local favorites
• Direct tuning of radio stations by simply saying “AM 1270” or “FM 101.1,” or using SIRIUS station names or numbers such as “21” or “Alt-Nation”

Use of aliases

• Within the climate menu, users can voice-request the same function using several different phrases, such as “Warmer,” “Increase temperature” or “Temperature up” – helping reduce the need for drivers to learn specific commands
• When requesting a specific song from an MP3 player, users can now say “Play song [title]” in addition to saying “Play track [title]”

Personalized access

• If an occupant’s USB-connected device, such as an MP3 player, has been named, users can simply say the device name, such as “John Smith’s iPod,” rather than the less personal “USB” command

Click here to learn more about MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch on theFordStory.com.

Flex, Fusion, MKZ, MKT and Milan previously earned top scores for occupant protection in the IIHS front, side and rear tests, but had to pass IIHS’s new roof strength test to maintain the rating. Vehicles also must offer electronic stability control to be eligible for a Top Safety Pick.

“Leading the industry in both Top Safety Pick ratings and government five-star crash test ratings is very significant because customers increasingly consider IIHS and NHTSA ratings when choosing a new vehicle,” said Sue Cischke, Ford’s group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. “These latest test results further demonstrate Ford’s commitment to continuous improvement on the safety front.”

The use of high-strength steels, including low-alloy, dual-phase and boron steel in the A- and B-pillars, roof headers and bows, rocker panels and rocker baffles of its newest vehicles helped the company perform well in IIHS testing. In addition, composite reinforcements were used to augment and stabilize the key pillar sections against collision forces.

Many new Ford vehicles are built with the company’s Trinity Front Crash Body Architecture. The energy-absorbing body structure is optimized for strength and stiffness, and designed to absorb and redirect crash forces away from the passenger compartment.

In addition, Ford Side Protection And Cabin Enhancement (SPACE®) Architecture is used to optimize side-impact occupant protection. The SPACE system integrates a high-strength steel structure in the fl that runs the width of the vehicle, and reinforcements along the rocker panels to help protect passengers in side-impact incidents.

We are a two Edge family. We love all the features it provides including the gas mileage. We feel safe traveling in all kinds of weather conditions. We have had quite a few Fords in our time (Explorers) I thought they were fantastic but I have to tell you that with the Ford Edge you have an excellent product in your hands. I would highly recommend the Edge or any Ford product for their safety and dependability.

Thank you from the bottom of our heart.

“We already have bio-based foam on more than 2 million vehicles and we’re looking to convert 100 percent of our fleet to it in the future,” said Jerry Brown, Ford Chief Engineer of Seat and Restraint Engineering. “This is just one way that Ford is advancing the use of eco-friendly materials in the industry.”

For the past several years, Ford has concentrated on increasing the use of non-metal recycled and bio-based materials, including:

• Bio-based (such as soy) polyurethane foams on the seat cushions, seatbacks and headliners on 11 vehicle models. The 2 million Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles on the road today with bio-foam seats equates to a reduction in petroleum oil usage of approximately 1.5 million pounds
• Post-consumer recycled resins such as detergent bottles, tires and battery casings used to make underbody systems, such as aerodynamic shields, splash shields and radiator air deflector shields. The latest example is the engine cam cover on the 3.0-liter V-6 2010 Ford Escape. As a result, Ford has diverted between 25 and 30 million pounds of plastic from landfills
• Post-industrial recycled yarns for seat fabrics on vehicles such as the Ford Escape and Escape Hybrid. A 100 percent usage of recycled yarns can mean a 64 percent reduction in energy consumption and a 60 percent reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the use of new yarns
• Repurposed nylon carpeting made into nylon resin and molded into cylinder head covers for Ford’s 3.0-liter Duratec^® engine. The industry’s first eco-friendly cylinder head cover is used in the 2010 Ford Fusion and Escape
• The automotive industry’s first application of wheat straw-reinforced plastic for the third-row storage bins of the 2010 Ford Flex. The natural fiber replaces energy-inefficient glass fibers commonly used to reinforce plastic parts

In support of Ford’s global product development strategy, material engineers are developing standardized specifications for sustainable materials while working with parts purchasers and suppliers to use eco-friendly components in different markets.

For example, the European Ford Focus uses recycled polymer in such components as the battery tray, wheel arch liners, seat fabric and carpets. Materials engineers are in the process of determining if recycled polymer can be used for similar components in the global Focus coming to North America and Europe in 2011.

Did you know that Ford vehicles are now 85 percent recyclable by weight? In 2009, Ford saved approximately $4.5 million by using recycled materials, and diverted between 25 and 30 million pounds of plastic from landfills in North America alone.

Automobiles are among the most recycled consumer products in the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 95 percent of all end-of-life vehicles in the U.S. are processed for recycling – compared to 52 percent of all paper and 31 percent of all plastic soft drink bottles.

In Europe, automakers are required to take back the vehicles they’ve produced at the end of the vehicles’ useful lives. Ford has end-of-life recycling networks for its vehicles in 16 European markets and participates in industry collective systems in another 10. In 2007, Ford became one of the first automakers in Europe to be certified in compliance with end-of-life requirements, including:

• Design and produce vehicles that facilitate the dismantling, reuse, recovery and recycling of them at end-of-life
• Reduce the use of hazardous substances when designing vehicles
• Increase the use of recycled materials in vehicle manufacture
• Ensure that parts do not contain mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium or lead

Reuse is a big part of the recycling story. Auto recyclers supply more than one third of all ferrous scrap to the U.S. scrap processing industry. When manufacturers use scrap iron and steel instead of newly produced ore, they reduce air and water pollution by more than half during the manufacturing process.

“In theory, end-of-life vehicles are nearly 100 percent recoverable. In practice, however, the cost in energy and labor to recover all vehicle material often exceeds the value of the materials and offers insignificant value to the environment,” Viera said. “We remain focused on achieving the highest economically viable and environmentally sound recovery percentage possible.”