New Privacy Statement effective 09/27/12 Is Posted Below
1. General Statement:
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. This privacy statement explains our policies and practices regarding on-line customer information. It is through this disclosure that we intend to provide you with a level of comfort and confidence in how we collect, use, and safeguard personal and other information we collect or that you provide through this website, and how you can contact us if you have any questions or concerns. It is our sincere hope that by explaining our data handling practices we will develop a trusting and long-lasting relationship with you. By using the site, you agree to the terms of this privacy statement.
2. Information About Our Organization and Website:
This Privacy Statement applies to www.ford.com and its related mobile website m.ford.com (collectively known as www.ford.com), which are owned and maintained by Ford Motor Company, Marketing, Sales and Service Division, 16800 Executive Plaza Drive, Dearborn, MI 48126. This site also contains certain micro-sites which may be administered by a third-party on behalf of Ford such as warriorsinpink.com.
The business purpose of this website is to: (1) provide visitors with knowledge of the features and benefits of the complete line of cars, crossovers, SUVs and trucks; and (2) provide visitors with purchasing-related information such as available incentives, services, product inventory and dealership contacts, (3) provide visitors the opportunity enter sweepstakes and purchase items and 4) provide you the opportunity to share your story regarding a Ford Motor Company product.
On certain portions of this website, you may have the opportunity to request information or a contact from your local dealer through various shopping tools. These shopping tools include Build and Price, Search Dealer Inventory, Request a Local Quote, and Trade-in Value. When you provide your personal information in those instances, it is collected by Ford Direct, an independent company that assists our dealers. If you choose to provide your personal information to Ford Direct, please note that it will be subject to the Privacy Policy of www.FordDirect.com.
3. Personally Identifiable Information We Collect From You:
When you visit www.ford.com we will not collect any personal information about you unless you provide it to us voluntarily. Personal data includes information that is particular to you such as name, street address, telephone number, e-mail address and credit card number if you make a purchase. If you opt not to provide us with personal information you can still access our website, however you may be unable to participate in certain promotions or receive product information.
Our primary goal in collecting personal information from you when you visit www.ford.com is to provide you the functionality and services that you need to have a meaningful and customized experience while using the site features. We need to collect personal information in order to fulfill a site user request such as mailing a brochure, lead generation, sending marketing or promotional materials including e-mails or other information, and fulfill purchases or sweepstake entries.
Please keep in mind that if you disclose personally identifiable information or other sensitive data through a chat room, message board, or other public online forums, this information may be collected and used by others.
4. How We Use the Personally Identifiable Information We Collect:
Personally identifiable information collected on www.ford.com may be used to:
• Fulfill a site user request (brochure fulfillment, lead generation, send marketing or promotional materials including e-mails or other information, sweepstakes entries)
• Fulfill and deliver an order for goods or services
• Respond to your comments or requests for information
• Meet a request for or to develop new products or services
• Make the user experience more customer friendly
• Contact you if necessary in the course of processing or shipping an order for products or services
• Generate site analytics that improve our site layout, content, product offerings and services
• Compile user data that is stored in our corporate database and may be used for marketing and other purposes
• Match personal data collected here with data about you that we collect offline
• Comply with legal requirements
5. Other (Non-Personally Identifiable) Information We Collect From Site Visitors:
During a normal visit to our site, no personally identifiable information about you is collected. All information on our site is free to browse at your leisure without the need for you to provide us with any personally identifiable information. www.ford.com collects other information, non-personally identifiable information from site visitors. This means that we do not track these items on an individual basis that identifies the site visitor, but rather gather and collect this information on an aggregate [or anonymous] basis that includes all site visitors. Non-personal information includes tracking the site pages that are visited, the amount of time spent on our site, clicks, page views, events (which shopping tools you interacted with), and zip code.
Our primary goal in collecting aggregate information from you is to be able to perform site metrics that allow us to improve the functionality of the website. We need to collect aggregate information in order to track page visits, site click through analysis, peak site usage times and site layout re-design.
We may use session and persistent "cookies," session logs, spot light ads/web beacons/GIF/pixel tags/banner ads or links, and third-party click tracking analytics tools (such as DART, Omniture tags, DoubleClick and Google Analytics), to collect aggregate or other non-personally identifiable information about site visitors. An explanation for each of these items and how they work is included in Section 7 Methods We Use to Collect Information.
6. How We Use the Aggregate or Non-Personally Identifiable Information We Collect:
Non-Personally identifiable information collected on www.ford.com may be used to:
• Compile aggregate and statistical data to help in website design and to identify popular features
• Measure site activity to allow us to update our site to better meet user wants and needs
• Make the user experience more customer friendly
www.ford.com utilizes non-personal data for the purpose of performing analytics on the users' experience while visiting this site. This analysis:
• Is performed on an aggregate level and does not identify you or your information personally
• May involve the use of a third-party vendor acting on behalf of www.ford.com
• Is performed in order to improve our website and the user experience
• May include the use of session and/or persistent cookies to track user movement across this and other Ford Motor Company websites or to track other events within or across this and other Ford Motor Company websites
• Any information that is provided to a third-party vendor is to be used only for the purpose of performing the analytics and compiling reports of the data. The third-party vendor is restricted from using this data in any other way other than to provide these services to Ford Motor Company and they may not share or resell this data
7. Methods We Use to Collect Information
A "cookie" is a small text file that helps us in many ways to make your visit to our website more enjoyable and meaningful to you. For example, cookies avoid you having to log in every time you come back to one of our websites. They also allow us to tailor a website or advertisement to better match your interests and preferences. There are a couple different types of cookies.
A "session" cookie is stored only in your computer's working memory (RAM) and only lasts for your browsing session. When you close all your browser's windows, or when you shut down your computer, the session cookie disappears forever.
A "persistent" cookie is stored on your computer's hard drive until a specified date, which could be tomorrow, next week, or 10 years from now. Persistentcookies stay on your computer until either a) they expire, b) they are overwritten with newer cookies, or c) you manually remove them. Most browsers can be configured not to accept cookies, however, this may prevent you from having access to some site functions or features.
This site may use a third party to deliver site functionality such as fulfilling your request to purchase items from our online store. In performing this function the third party may place a persistent cookie on your computer or have to gather personal information from you in order to facilitate the processing of your purchase.
This site may use a third-party click tracking analytics tool (such as DART, Omniture tags, DoubleClick and Google Analytics) to capture click through statistics.
www.ford.com may use spot light ads/web beacons/GIF/pixel tags which are site instrumentation tools that help us to determine, for instance, whether a page has been viewed or not and, if so, how many times. When you ask us to send you information on a promotion or a newsletter, we may use web beacons to establish how many of the emails are actually opened. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a web page, including an ad banner, can act as a web beacon.
When you visit our website the server housing the pages automatically generates a "session log". We use session logs to help us determine how people travel through our site. In this way, we can structure our pages so that the information most frequently visited is easier to find. By tracking page visits, we can also determine if the information we're providing is being used. The only data gathered is the Internet Protocol (IP) address from which you came (which contains no personal information), the web site that referred you, the pages you visited and the date and time of those visits.
If you visit this site with an open ID, you may integrate with third-party social media sites, and www.ford.com may track on an aggregate level the number of visits to this site with an open ID, the number of items "liked" on this site, or items on this site that you choose to share with a third-party social media site.
Users may be directed to www.ford.com via banner ads or site links. Ads or site links that are placed by www.ford.com use cookies or web beacons to deliver metrics on the effectiveness of the ads or links. They do not collect personal information from the user.
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