THE UNITED STATES TECHNICAL PRESENTATIONS SECTION TWO, PART 5 RESULTS OF THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY ESV DEVELOPMENT 736038

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