The all-new B-MAX will reduce the risk of low-speed accidents as well as the likelihood of injuries being suffered when they are unavoidable; this is due to the introduction of Ford’s low speed collision avoidance systemActive City Stop.

Each year more than half-a-million people are injured in car crashes in cities in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain alone. Of these, approximately one in eight are hurt in rear-end shunts, the type which Active City Stop might reduce in severity or avoid altogether.

“Low-speed front-to-rear-end collisions are one of the most common accidents in urban traffic,” Roland Schaefer, safety analyst, Ford of Europe, said.

“They can happen at traffic lights, intersections, roundabouts and other stop-start driving situations. You don’t have to be travelling fast to get injured. Even at speeds of just 15 km/h you can suffer soft tissue neck injury.”

First launched on Focus last year, Active City Stop is now being launched on a compact Ford vehicle for the first time. It monitors traffic ahead and applies the brakes if it detects a collision with a vehicle in front is imminent.

In tests the system is proven to prevent collisions at speeds up to 15 km/h, and reduce the severity of impacts at speeds as high as 30 km/h. The system was awarded an advanced reward by Euro NCAP in 2011.

Active City Stop is just one way in which Ford’s all-new B-MAX multi-activity vehicle is using technologies that help avoid the most common accidents on congested roads to raise the safety bar in the city car sector.

Ford’s Hill Launch Assist stops the car rolling back during hill starts or when parking on a slope; B-MAX also is exceptionally easy to manoeuvre in tight spots thanks to a compactchassis, elevated driving position, small turning circle and a rear-view camera.