Focus on safety wins Ford award

Developers at Ford have received a breakthrough award for their latest seatbelt technology after a spending a decade on designing and testing.

Creators of the industry-first rear inflatable seat belts accepted the prestigious Breakthrough Product Award from Popular Mechanics magazine in New York last week.

Introduced to the 2011 Ford Explorer, the belts combines seatbelt and airbag technologies to reduce head, neck and chest injuries in the most common rear-seat passengers - children.

The inflated seat belt helps distribute crash force energy across five times more of the occupant's torso than a traditional seat belt. After deployment, the seat belt remains inflated for several seconds before dispersing its air through the pores of the airbag.

"Ford's goal is to develop innovative safety technologies that give our customers more peace of mind," lead developer Srini Sundararajan said.

Ford intends to introduce the rear inflatable seat belts to more Ford cars in the future, including those available in Australia.

Currently, Ford offers two SUVs in the Australian market - the Ford Escape and the Ford Territory - with the Ford Territory claiming the number one position in the SUV Medium Segment for Australian new car sales in September, according to VFACTS.