Mercedes E Class Active Safety

Mercedes has an 'Integrated Safety Concept' on the 2009 released £30,855 E Class* Saloon Avantgarde. The June 2010 price list has the optional Driving Assistance Package £2250 which includes:-

1. Blind Spot Assist – visible warning in exterior mirrors if vehicle is detected in blind spot, audible warning if indicating to move out of lane (detail). 
2. Lane-Keeping Assist – vibrates steering wheel when detecting unintentional drifting out of lane (demo).
3. Distronic Plus - radar controlled braking system that maintains a safe distance from the car in front. 
4. Pre-Safe Brake - radar cruise control keeps you at a safe distance from the car in front .

Night View Assist £1100 uses infrared headlamps to view people and animals or loads shed in the road at night.

Speed Limit Assist Plus £290 has a Camera that recognises speed limit road signs and keeps the driver notified on the instrument cluster:

Standard eSafety features on E Class Avantgarde model are:

1. ESP - Electronic Stability Programme which prevents skids. 
2. LED daytime running lights
3. Intelligent Light System with bi‑xenon headlamps
4. Tyre pressure loss warning system (& Tyre Pressure Monitoring) – alerts driver to significant reductions in tyre pressure
5. Attention Assist - tiredness recognition. Fatigued drivers are identified by steering wheel movements that require constant correction.

Rare Passive Safety features include:

1. Active Bonnet – pedestrian safety measure which detects an impact and raises bonnet by 50 mm, creating additional crumple zone. However Euro NCAP 2010 safety test of Mercedes E Class Avantguarde only gave Pedestrian protection 59% (60% is required by 2012 for a car to be rated 5*)
2. knee airbag

Speed Limitation Assistance is not available on the E Class (unlike the excellent SLA on our Nissan Qashqai Acenta which has transformed the way Sharon & I drive!)

Euro NCAP noted the E Class is fitted as standard with 'PRE SAFE'' system which senses when an accident is about to occur and primes the restraint and protection systems in readiness for the collision.

* E 200 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY Avantgarde, Petrol – 1,796 cc, 184 hp

Advanced Driver Assist Systems

From Thatcham Safety Home go to Advanced Driver Assist Systems: New technologies now coming forward — with cars being able to avoid or mitigate (reduce) the likelihood of a crash occurring in the first place. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is an example of a technology that has been shown to reduce life-threatening crashes by up to 25%. By applying braking to individual wheels it can help to prevent a skid or spin. New Autonomous Emergency Braking systems also use automatic application of braking, but to reduce speed, rather than controlling the direction of the vehicle. These new technologies such as low cost radar, lasers and optical sensors are now being fitted to mainstream vehicles that will enable the car to monitor both road conditions and traffic levels, and ensure that our cars do not collide. 

Autonomous Emergency Braking

Thatcham News April 2010 discusses Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)

What is Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)? 
AEB systems automatically apply the brakes to reduce speed when sensors on the vehicle identify a likely collision and the driver has not applied sufficient braking and is not attempting to steer away. The introduction of automatic braking was seen with the advent of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC). ACC uses a radar unit mounted in the front grille to monitor the road ahead for other vehicles and obstacles and manipulates the car engine and brake controls to maintain and adjust speed to keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead. Developments in environmental sensing technologies have improved system functionality and object detection reliability to the extent that systems can be relied upon to warn the driver in potentially dangerous situations, and intervene to apply pre-impact emergency braking to reduce collision speeds. State of the art systems are using ‘sensor fusion’, a combination of multiple sensor types (e.g. radar and camera or stereo vision cameras) to reliably identify not only other vehicles, but also pedestrians, and brake to a halt before impact to prevent low and medium speed crashes occurring altogether.

More about Thatcham AEB tests and the Car Thatcham Couldn't Crash!

Electronic Stability Control gets cheaper

What Car? Tuesday, June 15, 2010

• Bosch unveils new sensor
• Should make stability control cheaper
• Will increase fitment in small cars

What Car? £200 figure is probably wrong. I've read its currently £70 so this new sensor should be cheaper still. 

Vision Zero International

Vision Zero International is the only publication that will unveil, discuss and debate technologies and theories that can reduce today’s 1.2 million road deaths worldwide to zero. Fully illustrated features will present all of tomorrow’s life-saving technologies, from intelligent road design and advanced traffic management to vehicular safety systems such as next-generation lighting, braking, intelligent cruise-control, ESP, seating, airbag, tires and restraint systems. Vision Zero International will review advanced materials, driver awareness systems, and ultimately look towards the goal of fully automated highways.

ESC leaflet

UK shuns Ecall life-saver

EC scheme enables cars to report their own crashes, with location

By Clive Akass

Thu Feb 25 2010, 11:30

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION is trying to persuade Britain to enforce a system that would save an estimated 2,500 lives each year across the continent by enabling cars to report their own crashes.

The Ecall system, as it is called, is an extension of the e112 scheme, which automatically provides location information when an emergency call is made using 999 in the UK, or 112 anywhere in Europe.

Research shows that some six in ten mobile emergency callers cannot say where they are, and of course people involved in car crashes may not be able to make a call at all.

New cars were supposed to support Ecall from this year under an EC plan, but the UK has refused to make it mandatory for vehicles sold in Britain, though emergency services here can respond to Ecalls from cars fitted with the system and use the location information provided.

The Department for Transport said in a statement said that an independent review in 2006 indicated that the benefits of the system would not justify the cost of implementing it in the UK, which had "some of the safest roads in the world."

An EC spokeswoman said discussions were continuing with the DfT. "We are trying to provide additional data that would help [the Ecall] case," she said.

i2010 - Intelligent Car Initiative

Source: EU Intelligent Car Initiative and pdf report. 

Research indicates that human error is involved in over 90% of accidents, and in almost three-quarters of cases the human error is solely to blame. As an example, a recent study concluded that if we have an accident when driving at a speed of 50 km/h and we could brake half a second earlier, we could reduce the crash energy by 50%. But an analysis of German accidents showed that 39% of passenger vehicles and 26% of trucks do not activate brakes before a collision, and some 40% do not brake effectively, underlining our limits as drivers.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) provide new intelligent solutions that contribute to solving the key societal challenges posed by road transport.

What Causes Accidents? Overall, road safety has been improving in industrialised countries over the last 30 years, showing that political willingness and the application of countermeasures produce results. For example, according to one recent report between 1980 to 2000, in three of the countries with the best road safety records, fatality trends had decreased dramatically, due to:  

1. Passive safety measures: 15% to 20%  
2. Safety belt wearing: 15% to 20%  
3. Drink-driving countermeasures: 15% to 20%  
4. Specific measures for vulnerable road users: 30% to 40%
5. Actions targeting the Infrastructure: 5% to 10%  
6. Education / training / communication: 7% to 18%. 

Despite these fatality reductions, road safety remains a major societal concern. Although car manufacturers in particular have gone to great efforts to improve their vehicles’ passive and active safety over the past 15 years, road safety research shows that existing measures are reaching a ceiling in most countries. Preventive and active safety should now be brought to the fore.

The EU’s TRaffic Accident Causation in Europe (TRACE) project aims to update the knowledge achieved so far about the causes of road accidents and has evaluated the effectiveness of technology-based traffic safety countermeasures.

Imagine a world where cars don't crash...


40,000 people die every year on Europe's roads and many more are injured.

Fortunately, advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) can now be incorporated into onboard "Intelligent vehicle systems", offering new solutions to today’s transport problems. These high-tech systems have great potential to:

• help drivers prevent or avoid traffic accidents
• mitigate the consequences of accidents that do occur

ESC Fitment Survey 2008

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is a technology that saves lives. Studies have shown that ESC could save as many as 4,000 lives a year in Europe (and 400 in UK) and avert nearly 100,000 injuries. Cars fitted with Stability Control are involved in fewer accidents than those which are not. Put simply, you are safer with it than without it. Fortunately, ESC’s life-saving potential has been recognised by lawmakers. In Europe, the European Commission proposed recently that ESC should be mandatory for all new vehicle types from 2012 with all new vehicles being equipped by 2014. Good news, on the face of it. Yet that is another four years before some new vehicles must have ESC and it could take several more before every vehicle in the showroom is equipped with a safety technology that has been in existence for many years.

more...

Statement on Toyota's Agreement to Pay Maximum Civil Penalty

Centre of the storm: Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, was criticised for not apologising quickly and publicly.

source: NHTSA - Press Release (in full)
Read the FT.com Analysis of the Toyota issue

March 23 2010: To a group of Toyota employees in Brussels: “We may have expanded too rapidly in recent years... I must acknowledge the result was the quality problems that have occurred.”


Statement from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Toyota's Agreement to Pay Maximum Civil Penalty 

DOT 71-10
Monday, April 19, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today made the following statement after Toyota Motor Corporation agreed to pay a $16.4 million (£10.7 million) fine - the largest fine permitted by law - for failing to notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of a dangerous pedal defect for almost four months:

“By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk,” said Secretary LaHood. “I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly. We are continuing to investigate whether the company has lived up to all its disclosure obligations.”

The $16.375 million fine for Toyota is the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an auto manufacturer by NHTSA. This penalty relates specifically to both the “sticky pedal” and “slow to return pedal” defects, which resulted in Toyota's recall of approximately 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. in late January.

On February 16, NHTSA launched an investigation into the timeliness and scope of the three recent Toyota recalls and required the automaker to turn over documents and explanations related to its adherence to U.S. auto safety laws. NHTSA officials are continuing to review Toyota's statements and more than 120,000 pages of Toyota documents to determine whether the company has complied with all its legal obligations.

NHTSA has the most active defect investigation program in the world, opening or closing an investigation almost every week. Over the last three years, NHTSA's defect and compliance investigations have resulted in 524 recalls involving 23.5 million vehicles.