1998 Mercury Tracer

small car / 4-door sedan

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 1997-99 models

Tested vehicle: 1997 Ford Escort LX 4-door

The Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer were redesigned for the 1997 model year. Note: 2001-02 model Escort sedans were sold when new only to fleets, and the Tracer was discontinued after the 1999 model year.

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 door sill crushed, but the driver's upper interior survival space was maintained reasonably well. There was virtually no movement of the steering wheel.

Even in the highest position, the head restraint isn't high enough to effectively protect an average-size male.

High forces indicating the likelihood of injury were recorded on the dummy's right leg during the offset test.

Technical measurements for this test

Measures of occupant compartment intrusion on driver side

Test ID CF97016
Footwell intrusion
Footrest (cm) 22
Left (cm) 26
Center (cm) 26
Right (cm) 18
Brake pedal (cm) 16
Instrument panel rearward movement
Left (cm) 8
Right (cm) 4
Steering column movement
Upward (cm) 2
Rearward (cm) 2
A-pillar rearward movement (cm) 6

Driver injury measures

Test ID CF97016
Head
HIC-15 457
Peak gs at hard contact 58
Neck
Tension (kN) 1.6
Extension bending moment (Nm) 19
Maximum Nij 0.28
Chest maximum compression (mm) 42
Legs
Femur force - left (kN) 3.2
Femur force - right (kN) 3.5
Knee displacement - left (mm) 0
Knee displacement - right (mm) 0
Maximum tibia index - left 0.31
Maximum tibia index - right 1.42
Tibia axial force - left (kN) 1.4
Tibia axial force - right (kN) 5.1
Foot acceleration (g)
Left 54
Right 101

How the moderate overlap front test is conducted