Ford Motor Company entered into a contract with
the U.S. Department of Transportation in July of
1971, to develop, build and deliver one ESV prototype
within a period of 18 months. We fulfilled this
obligation, through the efforts of many people and
organizations within Ford Motor Company, with the
delivery of one fully-styled and functional ESV
prototype to the DOT on December 19, 1972. At this
time, the Ford ESV is undergoing testing at the
Dynamic Science Test Facilities in Phoenix, Arizona.
These tests will culminate with a 50 mph barrier crash
scheduled for May of this year.
Our presentation today will include a brief review
of the final design configuration of the Ford ESV,
followed by a report of the results of significant crash
tests and performance tests in the "crash avoidance"
category. We will conclude the presentation with a
summary of experience gained from our participation
in the ESV program and finally will express our
thoughts and concerns about the future of the ESV
program.
As we have previously reported, our basic objective
of the Ford ESV program was to explore the
ramifications of meeting or approaching the DOT
specifications with designs capable of production in
quantity by proven manufacturing techniques and
materials. Accordingly, we chose a production sedan
design as our point of departure and, in describing
our final ESV design, we will compare it to the design
of a current Ford sedan