Mumbai: Ford Motor Company is beefing up active safety features of its vehicles with plans to offer more new product features and technologies to cater to its consumers' needs. The company is also ramping up research and development into next-generation accident avoidance safety technologies.

In 2009, Ford will introduce three new active technologies including adaptive cruise control, BLISTM (blind spot information system) with cross traffic alert and a third technology to be named later in 2008. These features will complement Ford's industry-exclusive AdvanceTrac with RSC (roll stability control) system, which already comes as a standar feature in millions of Ford products.

Ford will introduce the three new active technologies initially in the 2009 Lincoln MKS and later equip other Ford vehicles. The new adaptive cruise control radar-based system monitors traffic in front (up to 600 feet) and adjusts the speed of the vehicle to keep it a safe distance behind the lead vehicle. Four settings accommodate different driving styles for trailing distances. The feature is a major building block for next-generation systems such as forward collision warning.

Ford's new cross traffic alert feature will help warn drivers of impending traffic while reversing by using radars to pick up moving objects within a 65-foot range from either side of the vehicle. Two warnings are given - an indicator lights up in the corresponding outside mirror and an audible alert is sounded. The feature works in conjunction with Ford's radar-based blind-spot monitoring system, utilisng this system's two multiple beam radar modules, which are packaged in the rear quarter panels - one per side.

The radar identifies when a vehicle enters the defined blind spot zone and illuminates an indicator light on the corresponding sideview mirror providing a warning that a vehicle is approaching.

According to auto experts consumers are increasingly seeking safety features in the vehicles they drive. In a recent survey, consumers listed vehicle safety technologies as more than half of their Top 20 wants. At the same time, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research show teens and older drivers, the two driving populations that are involved in the most accidents, now constitute a growing majority of motorists in the United States.

Vehicle safety technology is second only to fuel efficiency on consumers' purchase considerations wish lists, according to a recent study by RDA Group Global Market Research of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Among consumers' top desires for safety features are collision warning and prevention, greater traction controls, entrapment prevention, and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.

Active safety technologies such as forward collision warning systems may provide drivers additional help in avoiding accidents. Awareness and acceptance of such technologies means more consumers will be looking for ''smart vehicles'' equipped with those technologies for themselves and their families, said Michelle McQuaid, Ford cross vehicle product marketing manager for features and technologies.

Demographic trends show teens and older drivers, the two driving populations that are involved in the most accidents, are increasing. In the years between 1996 and 2006 the number of licensed drivers between the age of 65 and older increased by nearly 20 per cent. Their numbers are expected to increase another 25 per cent in the next decade and by 2020, the number of 65 or older drivers is expected to reach 40 million.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum are the teens and people in their early 20s, who add at least 40,000 licensed drivers to US roads each year and number more than 70 million in total. These young drivers represent approximately 28 per cent of the US population, making it the largest consumer group in the country's  history.

According to NHTSA, teens and older drivers are involved in accidents for different reasons. Drivers 65 or older are prone to a gradual decline in cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities.And the younger drivers lack experience and are more likely to take risks such as speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, or without wearing a safety belt.

Researchers at Ford's advanced driving simulator, virtual test track experiment (VIRTTEX), are devoting much of 2008 to study how active safety technologies in vehicles may better alert drivers of potentially dangerous driving incidents.

''New technologies such as radar, cameras, lasers and GPS may enable us to offer more safety and convenience features in the future,'' said Jeff Rupp, manager, Active Safety, Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford's Research and Innovation Centre. ''A key is identifying the kinds of warnings that drivers will find both more effective and easier to understand.''

Ford recently used VIRTTEX to examine driver preferences and reaction times with advanced early-warning systems such as forward collision warning, a radar-based system designed to help avoid or mitigate the effect of front-end collisions. Research to date has shown drivers respond more quickly to certain audible alerts that are more intense, thus more authoritative. Early research also shows some preference for a combination of warnings -- audio alerts backed up by visual warning reinforcement.

Ford is also studying the optimal moment to warn a driver in a potentially dangerous situation. Initial studies show early warnings can be useful for distracted drivers, but can frustrate attentive drivers by warning of dangers they've already anticipated.

Ford's smart intersection research focuses on wireless communications between vehicles and infrastructure, as well as ''active safety'' technologies that can help warn drivers about potential hazards at intersections where 40 per cent of all traffic accidents and 20 per cent of crash-related fatalities occur. The collision avoidance system receives information such as traffic signal status communicated to the vehicles from intersection infrastructure to assess potential traffic hazards and provide warnings to drivers if necessary.