Despite their urgency to rid themselves of the under-performing brand, Ford apparently has no qualms helping themselves to Volvo’s wealth of cutting-edge technology. Fresh on the heels of the 2009 Ford Focus’ impressive win with the IIHS, Ford is again making headlines for yet another achievement in the field of automotive safety with the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
Apparently, over 50% of the new Fiesta’s body structure is constructed out of lightweight, incredibly high-strength Boron steel (which, for all you Liberal Arts majors, basically means that it’s indestructible up to 100,000 miles when – in keeping with the rich Ford tradition – it will begin to rapidly decompose). Unlike the Volvos from whence the technology is pulled, however, the super steel compound was only used in select key areas, including the Fiesta’s floor structure, front rails and beams, and the integrated “body-side reinforcement.” Essentially an extremely complex roll cage, the primary structural components of the body-side reinforcement include the slim A-pillar, the intrusion-resistant B-pillar, the rocker panels to which the B-pillar is fixed, the stabilizing rocker baffles, side roof arch and the lower A-pillar.
To demonstrate the Fiesta’s impenetrability, Ford Fiesta Movement agent Ryan Dembroski recently traveled to the “Will It Blend?” studio in Orem, Utah, to put a piece of the Fiesta’s Boron steel to the Blendtec Total Blender test. Having decimated objects including an Apple iPhone, marbles and magnets, Tom Dickson, founder of Blendtec and host of the popular YouTube videos, tried but failed to crack, cut or crush the steel. Check out the video below to view the results of Dickson’s experiment for yourself.