FORD <F> AIR-BAG PROGRAM FLAGGING - REPORT
Ford Motor Co's program to introduce
air-bags in its compact cars is facing widespread resistance
from both consumers and dealers, a trade paper said.
    As of February 20, Automotive News said Ford dealers had
sold only 455 1987-model Ford Tempos equipped with airbags and
294 similarly-equipped Mercury Topaz models compared with more
than 100,000 of the standard-equipped compact models.
    Ford has projected output of 12,000 Tempo and Topaz models
equipped with airbags in the 1987 model year, but Automotive
News said the current inventory of unsold cars represents a
disastrously high 1-1/2-year supply at current selling rates.
    Most of Ford's sales of the compact cars equipped with air
bags have been made to fleet buyers such as the U.S.
government, the paper said, with 11,000 having been sold since
they were announced in late 1985.
    Ford executives recently said their goal is to sell
annually between 500,000 and one mln cars equipped with air
bags by 1990 if the federal government will relax certain
regulatory standards as has been urged by some traffic safety
administrative staff.
   
 Reuter
