VETA Honors Ford Engineering Team for work on Taurus sedan.
Press Release Summary:
Ford Motor Co. will be honored with SPE® International Automotive Division's Vehicle Engineering Team Award (VETA) for significant use of innovative plastics content on 2010MY Taurus® sedan. Pete Reyes, chief program engineer-Taurus at Ford, will accept this award during SPE's 39th annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala on November 12, 2009 in Livonia, MI. VETA recognizes technical achievements of those whose work has led to integration of polymeric materials on notable vehicles.
Original Press Release:
SPE® Honors All-New Ford® Taurus® Sedan with 2009 Vehicle Engineering Team Award
TROY, (DETROIT) MICH. - The Automotive Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE®) International today announced that it will honor Ford Motor Co. with its Vehicle Engineering Team Award (VETA) for the automaker's significant use of innovative plastics content on the 2010MY Taurus® sedan. Pete Reyes, chief program engineer-Taurus at Ford will accept the award during SPE's 39th-annual Automotive Innovation Awards Gala, the oldest and largest recognition event in the automotive and plastics industries, on November 12, 2009, at Burton Manor in Livonia, Mich. SPE's Vehicle Engineering Team Award recognizes the technical achievements of teams comprised of automotive designers and engineers, tier integrators, materials suppliers, toolmakers, and others whose work - in research, design, engineering, and/or manufacturing - has led to significant integration of polymeric materials on a notable vehicle. Previous winners of this award include Porsche AG in 2004 for the '04MY Porsche® Carrera® GT supercar and Ford Motor Co. in 2008 for the '09MY Ford® Flex cross-over utility vehicle.
When Ford introduced the original Taurus sedan in 1986, it quickly became the company's bestselling vehicle. The "new" upscale 2010 Ford Taurus sedan, which launched this past August, sports an impressive collection of innovations and luxury features - many made possible by polymeric materials. The vehicle has already received a top safety designation by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and Esquire magazine named the performance-model Taurus SHO sedan as its first-ever Car of the Year.
The 2010MY Taurus sedan features an innovative set of standard and available technologies (many of them patented or patent-pending), including Adaptive Cruise Control with Collision Warning; Intelligent Access with Push Button Start, MyKey(TM) parental programmability; Blind-Spot Information System (BLIS®) with Cross-Traffic Alert; Rain-Sensing Wipers; EasyFuel® capless-refueling system; Ford SYNC® and SIRIUS Travel Link(TM) voice navigation system. The base-model Taurus sedan is powered by the 3.5L V6 Duratec® engine, while the Taurus SHO model features Ford's 3.5L V-6 EcoBoost(TM) engine that delivers 365 HP. These engines are mated to one of two available fuel-efficient six-speed automatic transmissions, including SelectShift Automatic(TM) transmissions with shift paddles and available all-wheel drive.
Interior innovations that relied on the benefits of polymeric materials include targeted ultra-soft foam on the instrument panel to improve craftsmanship, spray urethane skins on the instrument panel and door trim (the latter featuring molded-in faux stitching to replicate the look and feel of fine leather but with higher durability at lower cost). Other notable interior components include worldclass fit and finish of the all-plastic console top finish panel with three-in-series push-push doors, and multi-contour seats with the Active Motion(TM) feature that makes use of an ultrahigh-durability pneumatic bladder for lumbar support.
Plastics-intensive exterior innovations include the Blind Spot Information System; a faster cycle TPO fascia material; the EasyFuel capless refueling system; below-belt plastic brackets for door outer panels and door glass (replacing steel channels); an industry-first snap-in slider on the window regulator to satisfy the aggressive window design on the vehicle; and tri-extrusion outer belt weatherstrips. The vehicle also features new active crash-avoidance technologies such as radarenabled advanced collision warning system; blind-spot monitoring; and a cross-traffic alert that warns drivers about hard-to-see vehicles in parking lots.
These innovations benefit vehicle occupants through greater comfort, convenience, durability, and safety, while also helping the environment by reducing weight (thereby improving fuel efficiency), eliminating paint and other VOCs, increasing the use of recycled materials, and making greater use of carbon-sequestering bio-based resins and natural-fiber reinforcements, which helps reduce the carbon footprint of the vehicle throughout its lifecycle.
In addition to winning the 2009 VETA award, 13 components from the Taurus sedan were entered in SPE's Automotive Innovation Awards parts competition, with five of those nominations achieving Finalist status in three judging categories:
Body Exterior:
Body Interior:
Chassis / Hardware:
Materials:
Process / Assembly / Enabling Technologies:
= Category Finalist
With a starting manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP): $25,170 USD, the Taurus sedan seats five people and is rated at 18 miles/gallon city and 28 miles/gallon highway. For more information on the vehicle, see www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/ .
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 200,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and Volvo. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com.
This year's SPE Automotive Innovation Awards gala will be held at Burton Manor (www.Burtonmanor.net) in Livonia, Mich. on Nov. 12. All nominations accepted for this year's competition will be on display at the event with signage explaining their innovations.
The mission of SPE International is to promote scientific and engineering knowledge relating to plastics worldwide and to educate industry, academia, and the public about these advances. SPE's Automotive Division is active in educating, promoting, recognizing, and communicating technical accomplishments for all phases of plastics and plastic based-composite developments in the global transportation industry. Topic areas include applications, materials, processing, equipment, tooling, design, and development.
For more information about the Automotive Innovation Awards Competition and Gala, please visit the SPE Automotive Division's website at www.speautomotive.com/inno.htm , or contact the group at +1.248.244.8993, or write SPE Automotive Division, 1800 Crooks Road, Suite A, Troy, MI 48084, USA. For more information on the Society of Plastics Engineers International or other SPE events, visit the SPE website at www.4spe.org, or call +1.203.775.0471.
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