Ford Falcon FG 2008-09 rated safest used car in Australia

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

FFS they're a pack of *********. As predicted yesterday, they tried their damnedest to turn it into a negative and in the same breath spruik their precious VE. Unbelievable.

+1

Notice the article is titled the "controversy" of used car safety ratings. What controversy? Is the controversy that the pathetic series 1 VE didn't take first place?

Interesting to note that there are three Fords across the various categories and no Holdens... Holden not on top, can't have that can they?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Wretched

Not really. I think you like to look for the negatives.
They basically reported the Ford did well even without the need for curtain airbags.

Hey, they started it, not me and don't forget this mob have had it in for the FG since day one. The article is even titled "controversial used car safety ratings". What's controversial about it? Some second hand cars are safer than others but Drive just had to go on their little FG curtain airbag crusade. Allow me to paraphrase:

Originally Posted by Drivel.com.au

“Used examples of Ford’s current Falcon have been rated a top safety pick by motoring organisations despite the lack of potentially life-saving curtain airbags.”

“Lack of standard curtain airbags can’t stop Ford’s Falcon from topping safety guide.”

“Ford's Falcon has been chosen by motoring organisations as a top used-car safety recommendation ahead of the Holden Commodore despite a lack of curtain airbags on most models.”

“The current-model Falcon scores a ''safe pick'' despite the fact Ford does not fit curtain airbags to protect rear-seat passengers as standard except in the flagship G6E model.”

“Yet the Howsafeisyourcar.com.au that publishes the used car safety ratings advocates the fitment of side airbags, citing research that suggests they can reduce deaths in a side impact by up to 40 per cent.”

“MUARC senior researcher Dr Stuart Newstead admits the Falcon's lack of curtain airbags on all models is a concern, despite receiving a five-star rating from the ANCAP crash test regime.”

And that's just from the top half of the article - their point could have been made with just one sentence don't you reckon?

[Silver Ghia]

Originally Posted by theage.com.au/drive

Yet the Howsafeisyourcar.com.au that publishes the used car safety ratings advocates the fitment of side airbags, citing research that suggests they can reduce deaths in a side impact by up to 40 per cent.

"Without them, in a side impact crash there is little to protect your head from striking the side of the car or rigid objects like trees or poles," the website claims.

Its the way its been written that is objectionable.

On the FG there are head protecting side airbags standard on all sedans for the driver and passenger, which they dont state. The writer implies there is no head protection at all. The rear passengers are protected to some extent by the roof side sloping down, and C pillar structure, probably not as good as a curtain airbag in some situations but the car occupant safety from this aspect is certainly not as bad as they report.

They also do not mention at all that Falcon performed better than the Commodore in the frontal offset crash test.

Between 2006 and 2008 the VE as they report had no side airbags at all as standard for the driver and passenger. They were genuinely a 4 star car back then.

If only Ford fitted the side curtains just to prevent these comments, which have been happening since the FG introduction in 2008.

[Franco Cozzo]

Makes you wonder why they just didn't make the side airbags standard and add the extra $300 into the cost of the car?

[BHDOGS]

no they raise a good point its clearly an unsafe car due to no airbags altho the articles says its the safest so i guess it is buts its not or is it! FORD HAVE NO WAGONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[z80]

So they are saying that out of all the second hand cars available in Australia...a used Falcon is the safest available?

Do they mean up to a certain price point?
Do they mean locally made cars?

Should I tell my next door neighbour to ditch his 2001 Mercedes ?

[stang65]

Yep thats right safest car in the country so go ahead.

[BHDOGS]

more like 2001 gaycedes z80

[mcnamg]

Another great award for the Ford its just a pity they cant sell the things.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

FFS they're a pack of *********. As predicted yesterday, they tried their damnedest to turn it into a negative and in the same breath spruik their precious VE. Unbelievable.

Funny I don't see it in the list below. But that article is to be expected.

[makattkd]

Why would Ford care about the second hand car market? They want you to buy a NEW car!

Anyway people that think buying a big "older" car is safer than a new small hatch think again. Its a couple of years old, but good representation of the typical Volvo driver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDyeWofcLY

[stevz]

These used car safety ratings are seriously flawed. The 2002 Magna when new had a 3 star ancap rating and lowest score out of the Aus made cars, yet now it is right up there with the fg falcon??? Say what you like but I'd much rather be in a ve in a crash than a magna or camry.

[Falc'man]

Originally Posted by stevz

Say what you like but I'd much rather be in a ve in a crash than a magna or camry.

You'd be more likely to be in a crash in a VE anyway thanks to it's 1 foot wide A pillars. Serious design flaw there.

[z80]

The best way to see what a car stacks up like in a crash is a trip to the wreckers or damaged car auctions.

[Richmalbill]

Originally Posted by makattkd

Why would Ford care about the second hand car market? They want you to buy a NEW car!

Anyway people that think buying a big "older" car is safer than a new small hatch think again. Its a couple of years old, but good representation of the typical Volvo driver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDyeWofcLY

The point is that the Ford in question is an FG, which unless I'm mistaken is what they are still making now.

So this will therefore vindicate the design of the current product too.

[Richmalbill]

Actually the point is also that Ford have completely ignored this. It isn't even in the 'Ford in the news' section.

They have missed stuff like this plenty of times before - they're just not a switched on outfit when it come to self promotion.

[vztrt]

Light-sized segment the least safe used proposition

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...2578DB0025B203

Used Car Safety Ratings 2011 finds light cars least safe as a whole

28 July 2011

By MIKE COSTELLO

A COMPREHENSIVE annual report detailing the crash performance of popular used cars has found the light-sized vehicle segment as a whole to be the worst performing for driver protection.

The 2011 Used Car Safety Ratings – supported by both state and federal governments as well as organisations like the RACV, NRMA and RACQ – used police reports to give safety ratings for 184 of Australia’s most popular vehicles made between 1996 and 2009.

Twenty-one popular light-sized cars were included in the test, with none managing better than 3 stars out of 5. Previous-generation Mazda2, Honda Jazz, Suzuki Swift and Holden Barina models, as well as the Toyota Yaris, were the best of a bad bunch.

Interestingly, the previous European-sourced Holden Barina outperformed the current TK model, which managed two stars. The Hyundai Getz, which regularly leads the segment for sales, achieved just one star.

Other one-star cars included the first-generation Holden Cruze crossover, the previous Hyundai Accent, Ford's Festiva, the Daewoo Lanos and Tacuma, and Daihatsu's Terios, Sirion and Cuore.

No large passenger car received worse than two stars, while the worst result for any vehicle in either the medium or large SUV segments was three stars, underlining the point that size matters – at least in multi-vehicle collisions.

The study partly linked its findings to the fact that occupants of heavier vehicles in real-world two-vehicle crashes typically fare better than those in lighter vehicles.

It also stipulated that occupant protection in light cars has improved significantly in the years since the study’s 2009 cut-off, with several now scoring five star ANCAP ratings.

As part of the study, Monash University’s Accident Research Centre (MUARC) analysed records from more than 4 million police-reported road crashes in Australia and New Zealand between 1996 and 2009.

Factors such as driver gender and age, type of road user involved, crash configuration and year and location of crash were taken in to account.

Unsurprisingly, the findings indicated that newer models provided their drivers with better protection from injury in a crash, due to improvements on better structural designs and more active and passive safety equipment.

Despite this, the best performing vehicles were not necessarily those with the best new car crash ratings, because these new car tests (such as ANCAP) are carried out in controlled laboratory settings and do not take into account differences of weight in a collision.

While new car safety ratings are not designed to be compared among vehicles in vastly different size categories, the used car safety ratings can be compared across all categories as they are derived from reports of actual road crashes and take therefore take this into account.

The updated 2011 list also awarded an additional ‘safe pick’ rating to those vehicles that have been found to cause lower injuries to unprotected road user such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Of the thirty-eight cars awarded the maximum five star score, nineteen were also awarded the ‘safe pick’ tick of approval.

These include the locally-made Ford FG Falcon and Toyota Camry, as well as top-sellers like the Volkswagen Golf, Subaru Forester, Mitsubishi Triton, Mazda6 and Ford Transit.

2011 Used Car Safety Ratings five-star cars:

Small cars
Honda Civic (2006-09) Safe pick
Peugeot 307 (2001-09) Safe pick
Volvo S40/ V40 (1997-2004) Safe pick
Volkswagen Golf/ Bora (1999-2004) Safe pick
Volkswagen Golf /Jetta (2004-09) Safe pick

Medium cars
BMW 5 Series (1996-2003) Safe pick
Mazda6 (2002-07) Safe pick
Honda Accord (2003-07) Safe pick
Saab 900/ 9-3 (1994-2002) Safe pick
Saab 9000 (1986-1997) Safe pick
Subaru Liberty/ Outback (2003-09)
Honda Accord (1999-2002)
Honda Prelude (1997-2002)

Large cars
Ford Falcon FG (2008-09) Safe pick
Toyota Camry (2006-09) Safe pick
Mitsubishi Magna/ Verada (2003-05)
Mercedes-Benz E-class (1996-2002)

People-movers
Kia Carnival (1999-2006)
Honda Odyssey (1995-2000)
Toyota Tarago (2000-06)

Commercials
Ford Transit (2001-07) Safe pick
Volkswagen Caravelle/ Transporter (1995-04)
Mitsubishi Triton (2006-09) Safe pick
Ford Ranger/ Mazda BT-50 (2006-09) Safe pick
Mitsubishi Trition (1996-2006)
Nissan Navara (2005-09)
Toyota HiLux (2005-09)

Compact SUVs
Honda CR-V (2002-06) Safe pick
Subaru Forester (2002-08) Safe pick
Toyota RAV4 (2009-09)

Medium SUVs
Mitsubishi Pajero (2000-06) Safe pick
Ford Territory (2004-09)
Nissan Pathfinder (1995-2005)
Toyota Prado (1996-2003)
Toyota Prado (2003-09)

Large SUVs
Jeep Grand Cherokee (1999-2005) Safe pick
Land Rover Discovery (1991-2002)
Nissan Patrol (1998-2009)

[Road_Warrior]

This research shows that resale value of FG's could be positively effected if Ford got off their ***** and used this as part of its sales pitch to new car buyers.

[BadMax]

Sheesh! some people need to chill a little..

Seriously, if you purchased a brand new FG Falcon at 35odd K and didn't take the $300 option for curtains bags...well, you're a ********!

Also, do you really think it's as easy as flicking a button on a corporate website? It would have to be a sanctioned change and there would be lots of red tape to get through.