Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego: Safety & Crash Tests

nedc2

NHTSA has posted the NCAP ratings for the Five Hundred on its website, Five Stars all around for the crash tests and a Four Star rollover rating!

http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/3079.html

alpha01

5 stars in the side impact is excellent, and speaks to the rigidity of the safety cage as well as very strategically placed door reinforcements.

That is excellent and Ford should be commended.

However, chances are that the standard models tested by IIHS won't fare as well, as that side impact is far more demanding, and essentially requires a well designed inflatable system of some sort.

~alpha

figueroafamily

I spend my town hall time on the Freestyle one, but I thought you may like this...

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This is part of a Ford press release.

 

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=19773&ma- ke_id=trust

  

DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 14, 2004 - Ford Motor Company today announced that the 2005 Ford Five Hundred has received NHTSA's top five-star crash-test rating for front- and side-impacts - the only 2005 model passenger car tested to achieve this performance without the optional side air bags...

  

Sam

ANT14

Rated "Best Pick" by IIHS today

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=21028&make_id=trust

fsmmcsi

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety just gave the Five Hundred and Montego its Gold Award for top safety in front, side, and rear crashes, and the only other large car to receive an award was the Audi A6, a Silver Award.

http://www.iihs.org/news/2005/pr120405.html

I recently drove my brother's new Freestyle SEL with AWD from the suburbs of Salt Lake City up to the ski resort area and back. Although my wife and I thought that the engine noise was a problem when we test drove the Montego at a Mercury event and a Freestyle from a dealer, it was not a problem on that trip. We had two adults and four children in the car, and it was obviously working hard going up the hills, but the CVT is way better than a step-gear transmission and the engine noise was not bad.

I came down the hill with the transmission level in "low," most of the time, but the brakes were still very hot. The Edmunds test also complained about the brakes, so I wonder if the D3 cars need carbon pads?

I do fit in the Freestyle just fine, as the console is narrower than the one in the Five Hundred and Montego, allowing me to sit in reach of the steering wheel without my leg(s)always up against hard plastic as in the Five Hundred and Montgeo. I sure hope that the re-designed version and the Lincoln version also have a better interior with a telescoping column and/or a narrower console.

jaxs1

Crash test result is good. Now Ford needs to fix the very boring exterior styling and extremely ultra-tepid performance.

gene_v

Styling is great but I agree with the performance.
One more thing - needs more footroom snd narrower console.
A great car with lots of room for everyone but the driver.