I have written frequently about vehicle safety, (March 2010, May 2011 and October 2012). I believe safety is more important than fuel economy, performance or reliability. In the past my focus was on how well various vehicles protect the occupant in a crash, but now there is evolving a whole new realm of safety features described as automotive accident avoidance. Rather than protect an occupant in an accident, these systems help prevent an accident from occurring.
Crash avoidance features reduce crashes
At the present time many of these accident avoidance systems are available on higher end vehicles, but could soon be seen on many more models. Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)asked for public comment to make changes in their ratings program and one of the ratings they are proposing to add is automotive accident avoidance features.
This is a list of current accident avoidance systems and what they do:
Forward Collision Avoidance - Alerts the driver when his vehicle is getting closer to the one in front.
Autonomous Braking System - works in tandem with forward collision avoidance by applying the brakes when approaching a vehicle in front.
Adaptive Cruise Control - will slow down in traffic in order to keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead.
Lane Departure Warning and Prevention - uses cameras to monitor the lines in the road and either gives a warning like a sound or vibration in the steering wheel or actually applies brakes and gentle steering corrections to nudge the vehicle back in the lane.
Blind Spot Detection - gives a visual warning usually in the driver's mirror if there is a vehicle in the blind spot.
Curve Speed Warning - uses maps and GPS to determine if a vehicle is approaching a curve at too high a speed and alerts the driver if the approach is too fast.
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) - is available on many vehicles today and is designed to prevent sideways skidding that could lead to a rollover.
These systems vary in their effectiveness to prevent accidents:
- Forward collision avoidance systems in the Volvo XC60 have been credited with reducing rear end hits by 27%
- Lane departure warning... while it works 72% of the time on a dry interstate highway in the day, only works 4% of the time on a wet road at night.
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) estimates that electronic stability control "reduces fatal single-vehicle crash risk by 49% and fatal multiple - vehicle crash risk by 20% for cars and SUVs."
Some of these systems are too new to have accumulated enough data to evaluate.
If NHTSA does add accident avoidance systems to their ratings, these systems will quickly be included on many more models. Several years ago IIHS started requiring vehicles to have electronic stability control in order to be eligible for its Top Safety Pick honor. As a result we see ESC on many models today.
Accident avoidance systems aren't without their costs, but as they are applied to more models, the cost will come down and we will all be safer because of it.
