MANILA, Philippines — The all-new Ford Explorer has been raising the bar on SUV safety by combining technologies to help avoid crashes with those that set new standards of protection in the event of one.

The comprehensive safety story of the all-new Ford Explorer adds new features including the world’s first inflatable second-row seat belts.

“The all-new Explorer 2.0L GTDi XLT combines – all at once – our best technologies to not only help prevent a crash, but to help prevent injuries to occupants when a crash is unavoidable,” said Vinay Piparsania, VP for marketing and sales, Ford Group Philippines. “The use of high-strength steels such as boron in the Explorer body structure also offers a greater level of protection, while meeting the most stringent roof crush standards.”

Explorer showcases Ford’s commitment to safety by offering passengers an unprecedented array of active and passive safety technologies.

The Explorer 2.0L GTDi XLT offers a Ford technology unique in the automotive industry in the first-ever inflatable second-row seat belts. Rear seat passengers – often children or mature passengers – can be more vulnerable to head, chest and neck injuries, thus the advanced restraint system is designed to help reduce such injuries.

Advances in airbag inflation and seat belt construction methods have enabled Ford and its suppliers to develop inflatable seat belts that are designed to deploy over a vehicle occupant’s torso and shoulder in 40 milliseconds in the event of a crash.  Vehicle safety sensors determine the severity of the collision in the blink of an eye and deploy the inflatable belts’ airbags. Each belt’s tubular airbag inflates with cold compressed gas, which flows through a specially designed buckle from a cylinder housed below the seat.