The Canadian Automobile Association has chosen Ford of Canada as the recipient of its two annual Pyramid Awards. This is the first time in their award history that the same company has received both CAA awards in the same year.

The first award, the CAA Pyramid for Safety, went to Ford of Canada for its newly developed Blind Spot Mirror. The Blind Spot Mirror improves driver visibility on both sides of the vehicle when making a lane change or when parallel parking. It’s an affordable mirror technology that will find its way onto many future Ford and Lincoln vehicles as standard equipment.

The second award, the CAA Pyramid for Environmental Initiative, was awarded to the automaker for a new vehicle seat with a fabric made with 100 percent recycled materials.

Press Release

OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Jan. 13, 2009) – Ford’s newly developed blind spot mirror and its 100 per cent recycled seats have garnered two prestigious CAA Pyramid Awards^TM, a historic first as no previous automaker has ever won both awards.

The new blind spot mirror, which won the CAA Pyramid Award for safety innovation of the year, uses a secondary convex spotter mirror that provides an optimized view of the driver’s blind spot. When traffic enters the vehicle’s blind spot, the driver will be able to clearly see the traffic in the convex mirror.

In focus group testing by Ford, some 76 per cent of respondents said the mirror improved their confidence while driving. In addition, respondents said the learning curve to adjusting to the blind spot mirror was minimal.

“Given CAA’s strong commitment to road safety, we are pleased to see automobile manufacturers like Ford, creating safety innovations that help keep Canadian motorists safe,” says Tim Shearman, president of CAA. “Improving blind spot visibility will help to reduce collisions on our roads.”

Ford also received a CAA Pyramid Award for environmental initiative of the year for its 100 per cent recycled seats.

The seats are made of a new fabric that uses 100 per cent post-industrial recycled materials. By incorporating these seats into manufacturing, it is estimated that 600,000 gallons of water, 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide, and more than 7 million kilowatts of electricity will be conserved.

“We know that the environment is top-of-mind for Canadians, so we are pleased to see automobile manufacturers taking proactive steps to improve the environment,” says Shearman. “We are excited to give Ford this award as it demonstrates how small changes at the production level can have big positive impacts on the environment.”

For more information about the Pyramid Awards or CAA, please go to: http://www.caa.ca.

About the Pyramid Awards:

Introduced by CAA in 1983, the Pyramid Awards are designed to showcase automotive excellence in the areas of safety innovation and environmental achievement. Any company that sells or manufactures vehicles in Canada is eligible for the CAA Pyramid Awards for either a single initiative or a collection of initiatives.