2003 Mercury Mountaineer

midsize SUV / 4-door SUV

Crashworthiness

Rating overview
Moderate overlap front: original test

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 2002-05 models built after October 2001

Tested vehicle: 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4-door 4wd

The Ford Explorer 4-door (except the Sport Trac model) and the Mercury Mountaineer were redesigned for the 2002 model year. Explorers and Mountaineers manufactured after October 2001 include structural changes to improve occupant protection in frontal offset crashes (note: information about when a specific vehicle was manufactured is on the certification label typically affixed to the car on or near the driver door).

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has evaluated the crashworthiness of a 2002 Explorer with the structural changes in a 40 mph frontal offset crash test into a deformable barrier.

The Explorer and Mountaineer have been re-engineered for the 2006 model year, and the Aviator has been dropped.

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 well.

Smeared greasepaint shows where the dummy's head hit the roof rail, window frame, and B-pillar during rebound. Head accelerations from these hits were negligible.

Forces on the right lower leg were just high enough to indicate the possibility of injury.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CEF0125
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 13
Left (cm) 15
Center (cm) 18
Right (cm) 19
Brake pedal (cm) 10
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 3
Right (cm) 3
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 7
Rearward (cm) -6
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 3

Driver injury measures

Test ID CEF0125
Head
HIC-15 202
Peak gs at hard contact negligible
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.9
Extension bending moment (Nm) 18
Maximum Nij 0.32
Chest maximum compression (mm) 35
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 7.0
Femur force - right (kN) 2.6
Knee displacement - left (mm) 3
Knee displacement - right (mm) 5
Maximum tibia index - left 0.53
Maximum tibia index - right 0.87
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 3.9
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 2.8
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 101
Right 116

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted