3D Printed Ford Mustang Slot Car

Ford recently 3D printed an all-new 2015 Mustang slot car for an international slot car championship race in Detroit. Ford uses 3D printing for added efficiencies in prototyping vehicle parts throughout the product development cycle.

Ford Transit Side-Curtain Airbag

Ford, in cooperation with TRW Automotive, developed the industry's first five row side-curtain airbag as part of the Ford Safety Canopy System® to provide enhanced head and neck protection in the event of a side-impact or rollover crash. At close to 15 feet long and three feet tall, the airbag makes its debut in the all-new Ford Transit 15-passenger wagon.

Built Ford Tough...Seat Testing on the All-New F-150

Ford went the extra step to ensure the leather in the new F-150 meets consumer demands for both comfort and durability

Ford Announces $1 Million Donation to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

• Ford will donate $1 million to Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture to help celebrate richness and diversity of the African American experience

• Donation builds on Ford’s long support of African Americans and a 40-year relationship with Smithsonian Institution

• New Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture is slated to open in 2016

Ford Motor Company is building on a century-long commitment to supporting the African American community with a $1 million donation to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The donation from Ford Motor Company Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, will support the museum’s capital campaign. It will also go toward funding key programs when the museum – the only national site devoted exclusively to documenting African American life, art, history and culture – opens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in 2016.

“Since Henry Ford’s groundbreaking $5 a day wage in 1913, which paid people equally regardless of race, Ford has invested in programs that empower and celebrate the African American community,” said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “Ford is proud to work with the Smithsonian on this museum that will recognize the tremendous contributions of African Americans to our country and our world.”

Ford and the Smithsonian Institution jointly made the announcement today at the 20^th anniversary of the ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans. Follow the social conversation at #fordgivesback.
Ford’s relationship with the Smithsonian dates back 40 years, with the company donating more than $11.5 million to support exhibits and programs that provide educational opportunities for families:

• Ford Fund supported the Smithsonian Freedom’s Sisters, which celebrated 20 African American women who fought for equality for all Americans and traveled to 12 cities from 2007 to 2012
• In 2013, Ford Fund worked with the Smithsonian American History Museum to expand its Spark!Lab to three museums across the country. Designed to look and feel like an inventor’s workshop, these spaces challenge children to create, experiment and invent in interactive innovation workshops
• Ford Fund currently supports the museum’s American Sabor exhibit that explores the influence of Latino musicians in America and is traveling to 13 cities through 2015
• Ford Fund also is investing in conservation research for the giant panda at the National Zoo, including the popular Panda Cam, which allows visitors from around the world to view the newest panda cub online

“We are so pleased that the Ford Motor Company Fund has chosen to join hundreds of donors from across the country to build a groundswell of support for the National Museum of African American History and Culture; we recognize this as a vote of confidence,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, founding director of the museum. “It is a genuine honor to have the company join us in our commitment to bring to the nation’s capital a truly innovative cultural resource – one capable of telling a richer and fuller story of the development of this country.

“We also applaud the Ford Motor Company for having a long history of contributing to the growth of African American communities for families who migrated to Detroit from the rural south,” Bunch added. “After hiring its first African American employee in 1914, Ford, by 1926, had hired more than 10,000 African Americans, making it the largest employer of African Americans in the auto industry. By 1931, 20 percent of Detroit’s African American population was supported by Ford jobs.”

The National Museum of African American History and Culture was established by an act of Congress in 2003 as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian. It is the only national museum devoted exclusively to exploring and documenting American history through an African American lens. The nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is under construction on a five-acre site adjacent to the Washington Monument. It is being outfitted with 11 exhibitions at a cost of about $500 million. Half the cost is covered by the U.S. Congress; the museum is responsible for raising the rest.

While its building is under construction, the museum is presenting exhibitions in its gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The current exhibit, “Changing America: The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 and the March on Washington, 1963,” explores these two civil rights milestones and the impact the events had on generations. It is open to the public through Sept. 7. For more information, visit the museum’s website.

Ford 911 Assist Enhancements Debut on 2015 Mustang

Enhancements to 911 Assist, a subscription-free emergency feature included in more than 7 million Ford vehicles equipped with SYNC technology that helps connect vehicle occupants directly to a local 9-1-1 emergency operator following an airbag deployment or if the fuel supply shuts off, will debut on the 2015 Ford Mustang. The enhancements provide additional information such as crash description and safety belt usage.

Introducing the All-New 2015 Ford Edge

Meet the all-new 2015 Ford Edge! This new vehicle from Ford is loaded with more technology, higher levels of craftsmanship and greatly improved vehicle dynamics.

*Preproduction model shown, available Spring 2015.

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing You and Your Family a Safe and Happy 4th of July!

See the engines that put the power in the 2015 F-150 power-to-weight story.

Slashing weight is great. Improving power makes it even better. See how unprecedented engine technology is giving the all-new 2015 F-150 jaw-dropping capability and efficiency.

Ford Best-Selling Brand Among American Military Families; F-150 Top Seller Overall, Escape No. 1 SUV

• Ford is best-selling brand among American military families, according to Polk vehicle registrations analyzed in an IHS Automotive military sample of 19.3 million households of active, retired or veteran military personnel; Ford has three vehicles in the top 10, with F-150 topping the list
• Ford Escape is best-selling sport utility vehicle among American military families and third most popular vehicle overall. In Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland markets, Escape is top-selling vehicle among military families
• Dating back to the days of Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company has supported military families and veterans through charitable engagement, training and employment – with more than 5,900 American veterans and military currently employed with the company

When American military families buy a new vehicle, they prefer Ford trucks, utilities and cars over any other brand.

Three Ford products rank in the top 10 new vehicles purchased by military families, according to Polk vehicle registrations analyzed in an IHS Automotive sample of 19.3 million households that include active, retired or veteran military personnel. This sample accounts for 920,000 new and used light vehicle registrations last year. Ford F-150 pickup tops the list, while Escape ranks third overall and No. 1 among all utilities. Fusion rounds out the list, with the midsize sedan in ninth position.

“Military families, in particular, desire the efficiency, capability and smart technology Ford vehicles offer,” said Jim Farley, Ford executive vice president, Global Marketing, Sales, Service and Lincoln. “Ford has a long history of supporting active-duty military personnel and veterans, and it is an honor American military families buy Ford more than any other brand.”

Built Ford Tough

F-150 market share among American military families is higher than the truck’s portion of the overall retail vehicle market, which is significant because F-150 is the best-selling vehicle in the United States. F-150 is manufactured at Dearborn Truck Plant in Michigan and Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri.

Escape ranks as the No. 1 sport utility vehicle among American military families and the favorite vehicle overall with military families in the Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland areas. Escape is manufactured at Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky.

Veterans at Ford

The popularity of Ford vehicles among military families is in keeping with the company’s long-standing support of active military and veteran groups. Ford Motor Company’s support for veterans started more than 90 years ago when Henry Ford led a cross-country caravan of 50 Ford Model T’s to transport disabled veterans to their convention. Since 1974, Ford and Ford Motor Company Fund have provided more than $8 million to veterans organizations, including support for the National World War II Memorial.

Ford Veterans Network Group, one of 11 company-supported Employee Resource Groups, sponsors activities for its veterans, military personnel and their families. Ford employs more than 5,900 U.S. veterans, along with hundreds of active military personnel and U.S. reservists and guardsmen.

Automotive Industry's Only Five-Row Side-Curtain Airbag Debuts in All-New Ford Transit

• 2015 Ford Transit 15-passenger wagon offers the automotive industry’s only five-row side-curtain airbag – the largest in any Ford vehicle

• The side-curtain airbag is designed to provide enhanced head and neck protection in the event of a side-impact or rollover crash as part of Ford’s Safety Canopy System^®

• The airbag is close to 15 feet long and 3 feet tall and fills in a fraction of a second

The all-new Ford Transit 15-passenger wagon makes its debut in the United States and Canada with the industry’s only five-row side-curtain airbag.

Part of Ford Motor Company’s Safety Canopy^® System, this jumbo airbag is designed to help provide enhanced head and neck protection in rollover and side-impact crashes.

“The Transit wagon’s five-row side-curtain airbag is a great technological innovation that allows us to provide a high level of protection to multiple passengers in one of Ford’s largest vehicles,” said Sean West, Ford restraints manager. “We are proud to build on our safety leadership.”

The airbag measures close to 15 feet long and 3 feet tall with a volume of 120 liters. By comparison, a side-curtain airbag for a sedan like Ford Fusion is approximately 6.8 feet long and 2 feet tall with a volume of 42 liters.

In a crash situation, a series of sensors detects the impact and triggers two of the industry’s largest inflators to fill the entire airbag with stored gas in a fraction of a second. The inflators fill the bag in a pattern engineered to manage the direction of bag deployment and control cushion thickness throughout the length of the bag. The airbag is made of a coated, polyester-based fabric that holds the gas, so the bag remains inflated for several seconds.

The single-bag design – in conjunction with tethering and the vehicle’s B-, C- and D-pillars – helps keep the curtain supported when deployed.

Ford developed the five-row side-curtain airbag in cooperation with TRW Automotive, a global supplier of active and passive safety systems.

“This airbag technology is unique in its purpose, which is to help provide protection across five rows of passengers in a cabin that is more spacious than the more traditional light-duty vehicle,” said Norbert Kagerer, vice president, Occupant Safety Systems Engineering for TRW Automotive. “The stringent customer and industry regulatory requirements for airbags called for developing a system that provides appropriate occupant protection in a smart package.”

Side-curtain airbags are standard on the Transit wagon, which is available in three roof heights, two wheelbases and three body lengths. The high-roof long-wheelbase wagon seats as many as 15 people and provides as much as 65.2 inches of headroom. The 15-passenger extended-length Transit wagon offers best-in-class cargo capacity – 100.5 cubic feet – behind the last row of seats.

The side-curtain airbag is just one of many standard safety features on the all-new Ford Transit wagon. Other standard safety features for Transit wagon include front and front-seat side airbags for the driver and front passenger, three-point safety belts for all seats, AdvanceTrac^® with Roll Stability Control^™ and SOS Post-Crash Alert System^™.

Ford advises those using its vehicles to always wear a safety belt and secure children in the rear seat.