Safety first in fitted Falcons

THE "safest Falcon ever" was unveiled by Ford Australia and the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC) yesterday.

Outbidding Holden with a $1million investment in the $2 million, two-year SafeCar project, Ford will fit 15 prototype Fairmont Ghias with a raft of new safety technology in a bid to increase driver awareness of potentially dangerous situations.

This includes controversial measures to curb drink-driving and speeding, such as a "breath sniffer" system that detects alcohol vapour in the cabin and a speed adaptation system that resists pressure on the accelerator pedal if the driver infringes the speed limit by 5km/h or more.

"The ultimate objective is to reduce trauma on the roads and to make drivers safer," said TAC chairman Margaret Jackson.

"We know drink-driving is an issue, speed is an issue, collision avoidance is an issue, safety belts is an issue - so we were looking for a device for each of the high risks." While agreeing that none of the devices are new, Ms Jackson said this was the first time the chosen technologies had been combined in one vehicle.

In addition to increasingly common satellite navigation and parking sensors, the Fairmonts feature an emergency "may-day" system that in the event of a crash can notify emergency services of the vehicle's location, a "forward collision" warning system that tells the driver (with flashing lights via a dash-mounted screen and warning sounds from the stereo speakers) to back-off when disobeying the two-second rule, an advanced seatbelt reminder system and headlamps that illuminate as soon as the ignition is started.

"What we're trying to do is say: 'What price safety?' As a community, be it fleet owners or individuals, we should demand of the car companies these sorts of features - and we should be prepared to pay," said Ms Jackson.

The Monash University Accident Research Centre will monitor the vehicles over the next 18 months to study how well the devices work and how drivers respond to "Big Brother" watching over them.

The "drink sniffer' is likely to trigger the most debate. If it detects that the driver might have been drinking, the dash-mounted display will implore him or her to blow into an in-car breathalyser.

If the driver refuses and continues to drive, the infringement will be noted on the car's central computer - and could even be relayed to a third party, such as fleet control. Or the police.

"This car - showed me that I can be reminded how to be a better driver," said Ms Jackson.

"If you miss a (speed limit) sign, the car will tell you - and then if you don't react, the car will tell you that you need to react.

"And your judgment on how fast you were going and how much distance you need between you and the car in front isn't always perfect. The car actually makes that decision for you and says, "Be careful, you're about to have an accident."Ford has to date produced two prototypes which require additional testing before the 15 test vehicles are produced.

A brief drive at Ford Australia's You Yangs proving ground revealed that the forward collision warning system could, when cornering, unnecessarily respond to an oncoming vehicle or objects on the side of the road such as an armco - instead of the car in front as intended.

With the GPS-monitored speed adaptation system, the accelerator pedal resistance is firm when the driver lifts off after breaking the speed limit, but remains quite weak if right-foot pressure is maintained - a response that could encourage the driver to keep accelerating.