Ford shares safe driving tips for the long holiday drive

Amid the holiday season, many are now getting back on the road for that much-awaited road trip with family and friends.

And because our vehicles have been mostly parked these past two years, it's important to check on the condition of our vehicles before taking them back to the streets. As drivers, we also need to brush up on our skills behind the wheel. 

For safer travels, Ford Philippines shares these driving tips we can use for that long drive.

Make sure your windscreen wipers are in good condition

Dust, dirt, or rain can reduce visibility dramatically, so make sure you get into the habit of regularly checking your vehicle’s windscreen wipers. If they feel brittle or cracked, have them replaced immediately.

Many Ford vehicles have rain-sensing windscreen wipers which can automatically switch the wiper action between intermittent for light rain to fast for heavy downpours.

Check your tires

Your vehicle’s tires are its only contact with the road, so making sure they’re inflated to the correct pressure and have enough tread is vital.

Select Ford vehicles are equipped with a tire pressure monitoring System (TPMS), which displays a warning light that indicates significant underinflation in any of the tires. When the low tire pressure indicator lights up, be sure inflate them to the Ford recommended tire pressure.

Turn on your headlights

Many Ford vehicles feature dusk-sensing automatic headlights that will switch on as the light begins to fade.

But if your vehicle doesn’t have dusk-sensing headlights, make sure to switch them on when you notice a decrease in outdoor lighting, or at the first sign of wet weather.

Remember to slow down 

When  driving in a rush or when roads are wet and slippery, it’s vital that you slow down and give yourself more room on the road for braking.

In normal driving, the three-second rule applies, driving in wet weather conditions should see that gap stretch to almost 10 seconds.

Some Ford vehicles are fitted with Autonomous Emergency Braking, which is like having an extra set of eyes watching the road, able to apply the brakes if the system detects the driver has failed to respond.

Be careful when overtaking 

Overtaking on high speeds or wet roads requires extra caution, and it becomes even more dangerous when you’re around larger vehicles like buses or trucks. These vehicles also have a much larger spray zone and could splash water onto your windscreen as you pass them, temporarily obscuring your vision.

The same can apply to incoming traffic; larger vehicles that hit a patch of standing water on the other side of the road can splash it onto your windscreen.

To reinforce driver and passenger safety, Ford Philippines is helping ensure that owners keep their vehicles in their best condition during the Christmas season.

The Ford distributor is encouraging owners to follow their periodic maintenance service (PMS) schedule, where trained Ford technicians use Ford-approved fluids, filters, and genuine parts. This is important if their Ford has been stationary for a long period of time.

On top of this, each time a Ford vehicle leaves a dealership, the owner gets a Vehicle Report Card (VRC), offering a comprehensive health check summary of a vehicle’s key wear and tear parts and systems, showing which parts need immediate replacement.

Ford is also offering an all-in battery package and a new cabin filter on select Ford vehicles to better equip owners for their trips this season. The all-in battery package, available to customers with a Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Ford EcoSport, Ford Ranger or Ford Everest, includes parts and labor costs. All parts of eligible Ford vehicles covered by the promotion automatically come with a 24-month warranty.

Meanwhile, the Motorcraft micronAir proTect Cabin Filter, a premium cabin filter that offers superior filtering functionality at a competitive price point, is also available to Ford Ranger and Everest models (model year 2015 onwards) as an upgrade to the standard cabin filter.

The micronAir filter is effective against nearly 100% of allergens of two microns size or larger, and against small micro-organisms such as bacteria and fungal spores.

“Road safety remains a primary advocacy for Ford,” Director of Ford Customer Service Division Jen Comia-Hernandez announced in a release. 

Photos from Ford Philippines