The new Ford C-MAX and Grand C-MAX have been awarded by 5 star safety, maximum possible, rating from EuroNCAP. The new trendy minivans which are widely used by families, achieved the highest score recorded for whiplash protection and excelled in both adult occupant and child occupant safety categories.
The C-Max benefits from Ford’s Intelligent Protection System with single stage front airbags and 3D side thorax airbags for the driver and front passenger, plus standard side curtain airbags for the first and second row seats, and high-strength body structure with state-of-the-art restraint systems.
Driver safety is improved thanks to Ford’s horizontal stroking steering column that reduces loads on the occupant’s head and chest by stroking away from the driver in high speed frontal impacts. Ford has also fitted more effective retractor pretensioners to the front seats, providing increased retraction travel, along with belt load limiters.
“Crash test ratings are an important factor when designing and engineering our vehicles and we’re delighted that Euro NCAP has recognised that both the new C-MAX and Grand C-MAX models offer excellent protection in the event of a collision,” said Gunnar Herrmann, Ford’s global medium car vehicle line director.
“These are the first vehicles to be built on our new global C-car platform and for them to score so highly bodes well for future products including the all-new Focus which goes on sale next year.”
Front-end design has also been carefully engineered to provide increased pedestrian protection. The result is a collapsible wiper system, and the addition of ‘soft’ cowl design in the body structure, to reduce the effect of impacts at the base of the windscreen.
Rear seat passenger safety in the new C-MAX range is an important element of the design. Three-point safety belts are fitted to all rear seats in the C-MAX and Grand C-MAX, while the outer pair of second row seats has provision for ISOFIX in both models. The seven-seat Grand C-MAX also features a special new Rear Seat Beltminder system, which alerts the driver if any passengers in the second or third row seats do not have their safety belts correctly fastened – helpful with young children on board.
