Ford defends new Escape's AEB absence

Ford Australia has defended its decision to leave automatic braking technology out of the standard specification of its new Escape mid-size SUV.

Just launched Down Under into arguably the most competitive new-vehicle segment, Medium SUVs, the Escape – effectively an upgraded, renamed version of the old Kuga -- offers autonomous emergency braking (AEB) only as part of an optional Technology Pack.

The $1300 pack is optional on the both mid-grade Trend and range-topping Titanium variants, but is not available on the popular entry-level Ambiente.

Included in the optional technology suite are lane departure and blind spot warning, lane keeping assist, auto high-beam, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring and a drowsy driver alert system. Compared to the outgoing Kuga, the pack’s price has been trimmed by $300.

Ford’s proprietary name for AEB is Active City Stop. The latest variant operates at up to 50km/h and uses camera and radar sensors to prepare for and avoid (or mitigate the effects of) a collision.

Ford Australia boss Graeme Whickman told motoring.com.au the decision to leave AEB as an option was “about choice”.

“Kind of like Apple or anything else, there are things people choose… We give people the option,” he explained.

“It’s [the pack] very good value – there’s a lot in that for a consumer. If people want to step into that they start at a Trend and they've got the pack if they want… There’s a pathway to an outcome.

“If they want to prioritise something else [that’s their decision],” he proffered.

A growing number of vehicles in the Escape’s segment now offer AEB standard on mid- and high-grade, if not all, variants. Ford Australia’s product team says even with the added cost of the optional pack, Escape pricing is competitive.

They say there are no plans to match competitive vehicles’ specifications, but Whickman did leave the door open to amending the Escape’s current safety offer.

“We will continue, as we always do, looking at either the regulatory environment or the competitive environment, and importantly the customer demand or feedback around any of our specifications -- including safety,” he explained.

“Similar to other vehicles, as an example the reverse camera on Ranger… We will answer the requirement and if there’s a demand then we will assess and learn and iterate, if there’s reason to do so.”

Despite the lack of standard AEB, the Escape was recently awarded a five-star crash safety rating by Euro NCAP and therefore ANCAP.

ANCAP told motoring.com.au that's because it's effectively a facelifted version of the Kuga, which has had a five-star safety rating in Europe since 2012, even though Euro NCAP's current scoring regime requires all model variants to come with AEB as standard to gain a five-star rating. ANCAP's rating system does not come fully into line with Euro NCAP until 2018.

“The Escape carries through the existing five-star rating held by its former nameplate, which is normal practice when a model is facelifted,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, James Goodwin.

“Europe and Australia will adopt common test and assessment protocols in 2018, which will encourage the faster rollout of advanced safety features and provide the industry with the certainty to supply identical specified vehicles in the two regions.”

In contrast, Ford’s iconic Mustang muscle car was recently rated as two-star safe, in part because of its lack of AEB and other active safety and driver aids.

Commenting on the pony car’s poor safety result, Whickman suggested it had not deterred Mustang buyers.

“The consumer feedback has been not reflective of the media feedback,” he told motoring.com.au.

“We we’ve got hundreds, thousands of very satisfied, very happy [Mustang] customers,” he said.

But Whickman conceded some buyers had asked questions.

“Future customers — some, not many — have called and said I’ve seen this thing in the press, could you explain it… And that’s when we have the opportunity to tell them what the facts are.

“The facts are we had a four-star adult [occupant crash rating]; we had a three-star child occupancy; we had a five-star pedestrian and then we had a two-star driver assist [rating].

“And we tell them factually the reason we got the two-star is because we didn’t have AEB, we didn’t have lane keep [assistance] on a sports coupe… And we remind them of that and we let the facts do the talking,” he explained.

Whickman said media reporting on the result had been mixed.

“There are some that have led very strongly, there are some that are leading with [explaining] the [testing] regime and trying to understand the facts.

“We’ve just been responding with facts and our customers, by and large I think, have responded well,” Whickman stated.