2008 Ford Focus

small car / 2-door coupe

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test
Side: original test
Head restraints & seats

Key

  • G
    Good
  • A
    Acceptable
  • M
    Marginal
  • P
    Poor
  • Superior
  • Advanced
  • Basic

Some ratings use a scale of Poor to Good. Others range from Basic to Superior.

Moderate overlap front: original test

Rating applies to 2008-10 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Ford Focus SE 2-door

The Ford Focus was restyled for the 2008 model year, and the restraint system (airbags and seat belts) was modified. In addition, side airbags were made standard (they had been optional in earlier models).

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Chest
Leg/foot, left
Leg/foot, right
Driver restraints and dummy kinematics

Action shot taken during the frontal offset crash test.

The dummy's position in relation to the steering wheel and instrument panel after the crash test indicates that the driver's survival space was maintained reasonably well.

Smeared greasepaint indicates where the dummy's head contacted the side curtain airbag during rebound.

Despite moderate intrusion into the driver footwell area, all leg and foot injury measures were low.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEF0902
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 13
Left (cm) 20
Center (cm) 19
Right (cm) 15
Brake pedal (cm) 25
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 5
Right (cm) 4
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) -3
Rearward (cm) 2
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 5

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEF0902
Head
HIC-15 218
Peak gs at hard contact no contact
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.3
Extension bending moment (Nm) 4
Maximum Nij 0.22
Chest maximum compression (mm) 29
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.1
Femur force - right (kN) 2.0
Knee displacement - left (mm) 5
Knee displacement - right (mm) 1
Maximum tibia index - left 0.25
Maximum tibia index - right 0.63
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.0
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.1
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 80
Right 85

About the original moderate overlap front test

Side: original test

Rating applies to 2008-10 models

Tested vehicle: 2009 Ford Focus SE 2-door with standard front and rear head curtain airbags and standard front seat-mounted torso airbags

The Ford Focus was restyled for the 2008 model year, and changes were made to the side structure to improve occupant protection in side impact crashes. In addition, the side airbag design was changed and they were made standard (they had been optional in earlier models).

Overall evaluation
Structure and safety cage
Driver injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Driver head protection
Rear passenger injury measures
Head/neck
Torso
Pelvis/leg
Rear passenger head protection

View of the vehicle and barrier just after the crash test.

View of the vehicle after the crash with door removed, showing the side airbags and damage to the occupant compartment.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the driver dummy's head was protected from being hit by hard structures by the side airbags.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the rear passenger dummy’s head was protected by the side airbag.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CES0911
B-pillar to longitudinal centerline of driver's seat (cm) -1.0
Negative numbers indicate the amount by which the crush stopped short of the seat centerline.

Driver injury measures

Test ID CES0911
Head HIC-15 285
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.1
Compression (kN) 0.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 43
Lateral force (kN) 2.1
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 27
Average deflection (mm) 20
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 3.34
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.35
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 3.7
Acetabulum force (kN) 1.0
Combined force (kN) 4.2
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 1.2
L-M moment (Nm) 215
A-P moment (Nm) 23

Passenger injury measures

Test ID CES0911
Head HIC-15 389
Neck
Tension (kN) 0.9
Compression (kN) 0.0
Shoulder
Lateral deflection (mm) 37
Lateral force (kN) 1.2
Torso
Maximum deflection (mm) 40
Average deflection (mm) 24
Maximum deflection rate (m/s) 5.91
Maximum viscous criterion (m/s) 0.69
Pelvis
Iliac force (kN) 2.6
Acetabulum force (kN) 2.6
Combined force (kN) 4.9
Left femur
L-M force (kN) 0.5
L-M moment (Nm) 110
A-P moment (Nm) 110

About the original side crash test

Head restraints & seats

Seat type: Manual cloth seats

Overall evaluation
Dynamic rating
Seat/head restraint geometry
Technical measurements for this test
Seat type Manual cloth seats
Geometry
Backset (mm) 25
Distance below top of head (mm) 36
Seat design parameters
Pass/fail Pass
Max T1 acceleration (g) 10.1
Head contact time (ms) 56
Force rating 1
Neck forces
Max neck shear force (N) 40
Max neck tension (N) 489

About the head restraint & seat test
Currently, IIHS tests apply only to front seats.