Ford will be making police cars that stop exceedingly high-speed bullets.
These will be the first of their kind, vehicles with doors that protect against armor-piercing .30-caliber rifle bullets and are rated for pursuit - meaning that they have the pick-up to follow at high speed. The cars will be built according to U.S. Department of Justice standards to a level called Type IV, meaning they are more advanced than most vehicles already owned by police stations in the United States.
The panels will be optional and will have ballistic capabilities - able to resist objects projected at high speeds.
"Ford is well-known in the police community for going further to enhance officer safety. It's what our product is all about, first and foremost," noted Raj Sarkar, a general marketing manager at Ford.
Such a ballistics panel is one with "hard armor or plate inserts that have been tested against .30 caliber...bullets" with certain specified mass and velocity, according to the Department of Justice standard.
Shootouts between police and criminals who have high-powered, armor-piercing rifles are still low in number but are becoming more common. "The fact that we design our Police Interceptors around officer feedback is what has made them number one. Officers globally told us they needed protection from armor piercing ammunition and we added increased ballistic protection to an already great product - that's continuous innovation," said Arie Groeneveld, the chief engineer at Ford Police Interceptors.
These new Type IV panels are a step up and an optional choice different from existing panels from Ford that protect against ballistics.
Type III ballistic panels are already being used by agencies around the U.S. They are rated to fend off bullets up to .30 caliber of a type that don't pierce armor or from handguns, as well as certain special threats noted by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The automobiles will also include advanced technology that helps protect against a crash: It contributes to absorbing the collision's energy and to moving forces of impact away from occupants. There are also crumple zones at strategic points in the car's frame or body to further dissipate and absorb any crash energy to diminish the changes of intrusion into the seating compartment.
Materials such as advanced plastics, aluminum and boron steel also make the car stronger. The vehicles have also been subjected to 75-mph test ratings for rear crashes.
Follow Catherine Arnold on Twitter at @TreesWhales.
