Ford has announced the new Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory will get emergency assistance as standard, with the whole Ford line-up receiving the technology by 2017.
FORD AUSTRALIA HAS announced its refreshed Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory line-ups will become the first Australian-built vehicles to feature the ability to call emergency services “following an accident in which airbags deploy” (SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance). The technology will be rolled out into all Ford models by 2017.
For the system to work it requires the owner to have a paired mobile phone via Bluetooth; it operates in the background once the phone has been paired with SYNC2 and is within mobile phone range. SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance has no contracts or subscriptions; it’s a free service.
Emergency Assistance will only activate should the vehicle’s airbags deploy or the emergency fuel pump shutoff indicating a significant impact or roll-over has occurred.
Ford says, “a prompt occurs the first time a phone is paired with the system that asks if the owner wants to set SYNC2 Emergency Assistance for all paired phones. Once turned on, it remains that way unless the customer decides to turn the feature off”.
How does it work? According to Ford, SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance is “designed to deliver critical information directly to 000 operators, indicating that a Ford vehicle has been involved in an accident advising the vehicle’s GPS location before opening the line for hands-free communication with the vehicle occupants,” a statement reads.
“Should an accident occur in which airbags deploy or the emergency fuel pump shutoff is activated, SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance uses SYNC2’s hands-free phone capabilities to attempt to connect the driver directly with a 000 operator through the paired phone.
“If an accident occurs while a connected phone is being used for a normal call, SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance system can end that call and dial the emergency services. Also, incoming phone calls will not interrupt communication between vehicle occupants and the 000 operator.”
Once connected to 000 operators, occupants, if able, can walk away from their vehicle without a loss of connection, but if occupants aren’t able to talk to the operator, the system is able to provide GPS location digits in the voice message. SYNC2 with Emergency Assistance offers occupants a 10-second window to allow the 000 call to be cancelled.
