Tag Archives: Ford SYNC

New Car Financing: Ford Offering Incentives on Focus Electric

As 2013 kicks into gear with low interest rates and more flexible loan lengths , automakers are also offering additional incentives for a variety of makes and models. Ford is the latest to announce major incentives in hopes to boost sales for the Ford Focus Electric.

Typically, the Ford Focus Electric has a starting price of $39,200. Right off the bat, Ford is knocking that starting price down to $37,995. From there, buyers can choose to buy the Focus Electric outright and get an additional $2,000 discount or take 1.9 percent financing from Ford Motor Credit. Either way, it means thousands of dollars in savings for people who might have been eying the Ford Focus Electric but were waiting for a good deal.

Standard features on the Ford Focus Electric include SYNC with MyFord Touch, dual zone electronic automatic temperature control, HD Radio, and heated front seats. I can’t deny that in this cold weather, the idea of heated seats is very tempting.

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New Car Financing: Ford Focus Earns NHTSA Five-Star Rating

2012 has been a great year for the Ford Focus. Back in September, the Focus was projected to outsell the perennial favorite, the Toyota Corolla, and become the world’s best-selling car of 2012. This week, the Focus got more good news when it earned a five-star Overall Vehicle Score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NHTSA’s Overall Vehicle Score is a combination of the vehicle’s score on its front and side impact crash tests and a rollover resistance test. Broken down, the Focus scored four stars on the rollover resistance and front crash test and scored five stars for the side crash test, earning it the overall five-star score.

The Ford Focus’ high score can be attributed to the new safety technology utilized in the vehicle. Some of these features include the Safety Canopy curtain airbags which protect passengers during a rollover and driver airbags that better protect the chest and ribs in an accident. Also, the SYNC system includes hands-free calls and texting, and the new AdvanceTrac system helps reduce vehicle skidding and automatically makes adjustments to keep the vehicle on track.

While the Ford Focus has already been selling well in 2012, this distinction might give the Ford Focus that boost it needs to outsell the Corolla in the last few months of the year. We will have to wait and see how the numbers ultimately break down at the end of 2012, and we will keep you posted when we know which car will win out as the world’s best-selling car.

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“Connected” Cars: Distraction or Asset?

Recently, activists and parents have been speaking up on the dangers of distracted driving, using PSAs and popular TV shows like Glee to warn drivers of all ages. If a study from market researcher ABI is to be believed, though, the battle against distracted driving is uphill, barefoot, and through torrential rain.

Distracted driving is the all-encompassing term which includes talking on the phone, texting, or surfing the internet while driving. The answer isn’t as simple as outlawing cell phone use in the car, though. New touch-screen technologies in vehicles could also be considered distractions, and ABI’s projections predict that more than 60 percent of cars will be “connected” by 2017. Never mind getting teen drivers off their phones, imagine disconnecting cars from new technology. All those anti-cell phone laws will be worthless when people have a myriad of distractions built into their cars.

Of course, there is another way to look at this trend. Some of these new technologies allow for cars to communicate with each other and avoid collisions, and many people see “connected” cars as a step towards self-driving vehicles. People won’t have to worry about being distracted drivers because in the future, they won’t be driving at all. Until then, some of these “distractions” have safeguards built in to keep the driver safe, such as Ford’s SYNC and MyFord Touch system with driver stress test. The system measures the driver’s vitals, and when they show signs of stress or the road conditions worsen, all outside distractions are lessened. Incoming texts and calls through Ford SYNC are disabled, and the driver can better focus on safe driving.

Readers, we want to know what you think! Are these new technologies an asset and a step towards a brighter driving future, or are they a distraction that will endanger other drivers on the road? Leave a comment below, and let us know what you think!

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