Ford India | Driving Safety

Statistical data show that, of all possible fatal traffic accidents, about 45% of dead lives can be saved if safety belts are correctly used. If both safety belts and air bags can be used, 60% of dead lives can be saved.
A huge inertial force will be generated in the case of car collision or emergency braking due to an accident, it will make drivers and passengers collide with steering wheels, windshields and chair backs again, so it will easily lead to severe injury to drivers and passengers, even throw them away from their seats or from cars. The safety belts can bind drivers and passengers to their seats. Safety belts can effectively prevent drivers and passengers against the second collision in case of an accident and its buffering role can absorb much kinetic energy, so safety belts can alleviate injury to drivers and passengers.

• If safety belt is not fastened, the air bag has little role.

• Frequent check
  Frequently check the states of the safety belts. E.g. If belt surface is smooth; the pre-fastening function, the fasteners of safety belts, prompt tone and warning lights can work normally. Damaged or abnormal safety belts shall be repaired at the 4S store in a timely manner.
• For children
  Safety belts for adults shall not be used by children. Child car seat shall be installed.

Generally, a car is composed of plentiful parts. All parts are like some small screws. Only after strictly inspected and tested at the factory, these parts can then be assembled onto the car. Poor parts may not only affect their own performance, but also related assemblies and further performance of the whole car, and even affect driving safety. Different parts of a car have different functions, so their design requirements are different, e.g. technical specifications for size/materials/functionality/durability.
There are many non-original parts on the market. To list some examples here:

• Headlight
  For a headlight, its brightness must be taken into account. If it is too bright or dark, driving safety will be affected. In addition, as for the durability of a headlight, the reflector panel in an original headlight will not easily aging to affect the brightness. In comparison, a non-original headlight is easy to age.
• Transmission shaft
  A transmission shaft is designed to bear a heavy load, so materials and precision shall be considered for an original transmission shaft and be strictly tested. Otherwise, it will fall in driving, leading to vehicle body shake in driving, quickly damaging related parts such as wheel shafts and the steering system, and further affecting the driving safety severely.
• Brake pad/disc
  If a non-original brake disc cracks, it will severely affect the driving safety.

An original brake pad is designed strictly according to requirements of durability, brake performance, noise and environmental protection, and passes strict car match validation. Generally, a non-original brae pad cannot ensure the design and quality, so problems such as ineffective brake due to declined thermal brake effect and abnormal system operation due to the incompatibility between ABS and ESP system, frequently occur.

• DVD player, navigation and reversing video system
  A CD and DVD player is closely associated with the radio reception function, disc reading function, AUX/USB connection function, car door horn sound output and navigation and reversing video display function, because these functions will communicate data via a CD and DVD player. If a non-original DVD player, navigation and reversing video system are installed, it may lead to bad radio reception, noises, poor disc reading capability, unavailable AUX/USB connection and identification failure, low-quality gate horn output sound, inaccurate navigation map, no tone, blue navigation screen, bad navigation input function and automatic switching failure of the navigation and reversing video display due to the poor quality of a non-original part or data communication problems. To ensure that the sound system of your car works normally, it is recommended to use original parts.

• Automatic transmission car
  It is forbidden to shift the gear to the neutral position in driving for an automatic transmission car. Otherwise, the automatic transmission may be damaged due to lack of fluid lubrication and cooling. Certainly, it will lead to another operation safety problem. The braking distance is affected due to braking of an engine, which will lead to a severe accident.
• Manual transmission car
  It is recommended to forbid sliding at a neutral position in driving for a manual transmission car, especially in long downslope distance. Otherwise, it may make an engine flame out in case of an emergency. The emergency braking distance is affected due to no engine braking, which may lead to an accident. In addition, some drivers think that driving at a neutral position can save gasoline. In fact, the ECU (electronic control unit) of a car will calculate the spraying oil according to the input signals of plentiful sensors. To step the clutch pedal (or neutral position) in sliding, the ECU will not stop spraying oil but will spray oil according to the idle mode. The ECMU will cut off oil based on different working conditions in sliding at a position and stop spraying oil, so the oil consumed at a neutral position is more than oil consumed at other positions. The manual transmission car can shift to a neutral position in case of parking.

A car will not speed up sliding as expected in a downslope distance; it will keep the speed or slow down, even need to step on the accelerator because an engine can assist braking. It aims to prevent reduced braking effect of a high-temperature braking disc from leading to an accident in a long downslope distance. Therefore, it is normal to step on the accelerator in a downslope distance to secure driving.

After the adaptive cruise control is enabled, a car will automatically brake and keep a certain distance from the detected front car as needed. When the front car leaves away at a higher rate or changes to another lane, the car rate will restore to previous set cruise rate. At this time, the car will automatically accelerate. You shall stay vigilant, control the steering wheel, and operate the system if needed.