Ford Explorer Gains IIHS Top Safety Pick +

One of the critical, independent car safety institutions is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Since the early 1980s, IIHS has developed independent crash standards to apply to cars and trucks. Over time, IIHS has developed and refined new standards for cars and trucks, including some of the strictest new standards.

IIHS Standards Recognized Across Industry

The car and truck standards developed are now industry-wide. They provide consumers, and they provide the industry and consumer with unbiased standards against which they can measure various models. For example, if one vehicle scores an impressive Top Safety Pick, consumers would know that the vehicle was safe.

If, on the other hand, the same vehicle had scored a Top Safety Pick +, then they would know that the vehicle had received the IIHS' top safety award, meaning the vehicle under consideration was safe.

With all of the problems besetting drivers, horrific fires on the West Coast and historic flooding on the Gulf Coast thanks to hurricanes Ford works to reset vehicle fees to those touched by disaster.

For 2020, the Ford Explorer has earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick + award, the highest safety award available. Vehicles built after May 2020 received this honor. To receive the Top Safety Pick + award, the Explorer passed six crashworthiness tests that ensure minimum "acceptable or good" ratings that must come equipped with advanced driver-asst technologies that can help avoid or reduce a collision.

"Explorer is America's all-time best-selling SUV, and with that, our customers expect it to take their family on adventures everywhere – from school to our national parks," said Lee Newcombe, Explorer marketing manager, Ford Motor Company. "This honor from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reaffirms the obsession of our entire team who work tirelessly toward the goal of helping our customers arrive at these places and everywhere else in between."

As part of Ford's commitment to advanced technologies, the Ford Explorer features the Co-Pilot360™ suite of driver-assist features as standard equipment. IIHS recognized Explorer in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian evaluations. Explorer aced all six areas of IIHS' crashworthiness testing.

IIHS Standard Has Following Ford Features

The full suite of Ford Co-Pilot360™ driver-assist features on the 2020 Ford Explorer include:

• Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking including:

• Pedestrian Detection
• Forward Collision Warning
• Dynamic Braking System

• Blind Spot Information System
• Rearview Camera
• Cross-Traffic Alert
• Lane-Keeping System
• Auto High-Beam Headlights

Marc Stern has been an auto writer since 1971. It was a position that filled two boyhood dreams: One was that I would write, and two that I write about cars. When I took over as my newspaper's auto editor, I began a 32-year career as an automotive columnist. There isn't much on four wheels that I haven't driven or reviewed. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. Today, I am the Ford F150 reporter for Torque News. I write how-to and help columns for online sites such as Fixya.com and others. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Most of Marc's stories can be found at Torque News Ford coverage. Check back again and search for Torque News Ford F-150 news for more F-150 truck news coverage.