The 2008 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable will arrive in showrooms this summer bearing Top Safety Pick ratings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the government's highest available five-star ratings in all crash test categories. The IIHS' "Top Safety Pick" rating can only be earned by vehicles that achieve the best-available safety performance in frontal, side and rear collisions and offer electronic stability control. In addition to being the only large family cars to merit IIHS' Top Safety Pick rating, these sedans stand alone for also earning five-star driver and passenger crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). "It's a true testament to the safety engineering of these vehicles that they achieved top crash test ratings from both IIHS and NHTSA," said Sue Cischke, senior vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company. "Ford and Volvo worked together to leverage our technical and intellectual resources to create this outstanding vehicle architecture, and now it's better than ever. These cars offer it all: safety, power, spaciousness, comfort and great features, all at a great value." The Insurance Institute also gave both vehicles its highest rear impact rating for offering effective protection against neck injuries, as well as its highest front and side impact ratings for withstanding intrusion into the occupant compartment. The structure of the Taurus and Sable is engineered with crush zones designed to direct excess energy around the passenger compartment into a high-strength safety cage. An innovative cross-car beam "SPACE? Architecture" under the front seats reinforces the structure between the B-pillars, which helps direct energy away from passengers. Both vehicles offer an industry first two-row Safety Canopy? side air bag system that provides additional protection not only in side impact collisions, but also deploys in rollover accidents. Side-impact protection comes from a combination of air bag technology and structural features that help safeguard occupants from intrusion by channeling crash energy away from the passenger compartment. Produced for Ford

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