2015 Ford Mondeo brings new safety tech

Ford's groundbreaking inflatable rear seatbelt makes its Australian debut in the all-new Mondeo.

The inflatable belt is designed to reduce head, neck and chest injuries for rear-seat passengers, often children and older passengers who are more vulnerable to such injuries.

The technology was first offered on the 2011 Ford Explorer in North America. In Australia, Inflatable Rear Seatbelts will be standard across the entire Mondeo range.

The belt rapidly expands to disperse crash forces across a body area five times greater than that achieved by a conventional seatbelt

In the event of an accident, the belt rapidly expands to disperse crash forces across a body area five times greater than that achieved by a conventional seatbelt.

Sensors trigger the release of compressed gas out of a cylinder housed below the rear seat, through the buckle and into the belt.

The Inflatable Rear Seatbelt is fully deployed down the length of the lower side of the seatbelt away from the face in less than 40 milliseconds.

The Inflatable Rear Seatbelts have been tested extensively using the Ford crash test dummy family and it has been proven to offer extra protection over the standard rear seatbelt system.

The inflatable belts operate like conventional seatbelts in everyday use and, in Ford's research, more than 90 per cent of those who tested the inflatable seatbelts found them to be similar to or more comfortable than a conventional belt because they feel padded and softer.

"The seatbelt has made one of the single biggest contributions to car safety and Ford's Inflatable Rear Seatbelt provides even more protection to passengers," Ford General Manager Marketing, David Katic, said.

"Mondeo will be the first vehicle in its class in Australia to offer this technology and we're confident it will really appeal to customers."

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