The A-pillars also play a vital role in the cabin structure. They are reinforced by HSS 2 material and steel bars made of Ultra HSS, which stiffen the A-pillars' overall length significantly.

These reinforcements are very effective, so the amount of stiffening underbody transverse ribs could be reduced to just two - which in turn led to a significant weight reduction and improved ground clearance. The transverse ribs connect the rockers' rear ends with the underbody structure just above the rear axle, where they add to overall rigidity and improve driving dynamics.

The overall result is impressive. The all-new Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet offers a torsional rigidity of 678 kNm/rad with the hardtop stowed away a figure one would normally expect from much more expensive Cabriolets. Torsional rigidity increases to 1169 kNm/rad with the roof closed. Andreas Stichweh believes that this results in "figures some three-door sedans could be proud of!"

Another benefit of an ultra-stiff body shell is an optimised NVH behaviour. Paths that transport vibrations, powertrain noise, and driving noise can be clearly defined and then influenced positively when the body structure shows high rigidity.



Ford Focus Coupe-Cabriolet Safety

"Our top priority was to give Focus Coupe-Cabriolet as much active safety competence as possible. At the same time, the car's passive safety elements had to be as effective as with any other vehicle."
Gisbert Gab, Manager Vehicle Safety


Active Safety

Precise suspension tuning is the active and solid base for the new Focus Coupe-Cabriolet's safety package. As a part of Ford PrecisionDrive, it helps drivers intuitively to rely on their Ford car in any driving situation.

For stopping confidence, the 2.0 litre versions feature ventilated front disc brakes with a diameter of 300mm. At the rear, the large disc brakes have a diameter of 280mm. For the 1.6 litre version, the discs measure 278mm at the front and 265mm at the rear. Depending on individual market specifications, the standard ABS is also available with ESP and EBA. In addition, the team paid special attention to brake responsiveness.


Passive Safety

At Ford, passive safety starts with an ultra stiff body shell and a rigid passenger safety cell. When developing the passive safety concept for Focus Coupe-Cabriolet, engineers benefited from the existing structure developed for the Focus 4-door model.

In this model, crash energy at the front end is absorbed and distributed via the rockers, the roof and the doors' stiff outer waistline. Thanks to the decoupling chassis subframe, crash energy transfer into the underbody structure is minimised which results in less deformation of the front passenger's footwell.

Without a regular sedan roof structure however, front crash load paths for the Focus Coupe-Cabriolet had to be redistributed behind the A-pillars into the door structure.

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