Ford’s Figo & Aspire now get ABS,EBD in Trend variant

Ford has always been adamant on offering cars with high levels of safety features in India. When it was introduced, both the Figo and the Aspire were the first vehicles in their respective segments to feature 6 airbags. Now the company has silently added ABS and EBD to the lower Trend variant as well, something that was only on offer in the premium Titanium and Titanium+ variants previously.

Ford previously offered driver’s airbag as standard on all the variants of the Figo and Aspire and offered dual airbags from the Ambiente version onwards. With this addition, only the base version of the Figo and the Ambiente version of both the Figo and the Aspire are left out without having ABS and EBD on offer.

What ABS does it that it prevents the wheels from locking up under heavy braking and thus allows for directional control of the vehicle. In simpler words, even while braking hard, you can steer away from the obstacle if your vehicle has ABS. This is done by varying the pressure applied to each individual wheel with the help of a seperate controller unit. It doesn’t necessarily help to reduce braking distance though, unlike what most people might think.

Currently, Toyota and VW are the only two companies that offer ABS and dual airbags as standard across the range of vehicles they sell in the country. The Government of India is in the process of passing a law that will demand airbags and ABS as standard across all models in the coming years. Ford already offers dual airbags as standard across all the variants of the Ecosport and save for the base variant of the Figo, the Figo and Aspire also get dual airbags as standard. It is good to see companies taking the innitiative to add safety features to their vehicles to keep the consumer safe. India is one of the very few countries where crash testing norms aren’t yet in place, something that will change by next year.