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Street smarts

Automakers are taking car safety to new levels with sophisticated warning systems that almost do the driving for you, reports Chris Betros.

Two Toyota vehicles of differing size and weight engage in a head-on offset collision to test omni-directional collision safety

Last year there were 855,488 traffic accidents in Japan, resulting in 7,702 deaths, according to the National Police Agency. This was a 7.5 percent drop from 2002, the agency says, attributing the decrease to improved safety technology in cars. That figure is likely to drop even further as Nissan, Toyota, Honda and other automobile manufacturers upgrade their warning systems.

Warning signs
Nissan is already touting its new Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system, which will be featured in its Infiniti FX and Infiniti M45 models, scheduled for release later this year. The LDW alerts drivers of an unintended movement of the vehicle out of a designated traffic lane, by utilizing a small camera, speed sensor, indicator and audible warning buzzer. The LDW can be temporarily disabled by driver activation of the vehicle’s turn signals, which informs the system’s control unit of intended lane changes. A manual cancel switch allows the driver to turn the system off, but it automatically resets when the vehicle is restarted.

The LDW recognizes lane markings through the use of a small camera mounted behind the rearview mirror. The camera’s signal and the vehicle’s speed are sent to the system’s microprocessing unit, which combines the information to calculate both the distance between the vehicle and the lane marking. If it is determined that the vehicle is leaving the lane, both visual (indicator light on the instrument panel) and audible (buzzer) warning systems are generated, alerting the driver to take corrective action.

Studies by the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration show that 55 percent of fatal accidents are caused by lane departure as the result of driver distraction, inattention and drowsiness. “Some cases when the LDW will warn drivers are, for example, when the driver might be distracted adjusting the audio system, looking at other occupants, searching for addresses or landmarks, or when concentrating on conversations rather than driving,” said a Nissan spokesman.

Radar screen
Meanwhile, Toyota is working to make cars themselves more intelligent, to almost take the decision-making out of drivers’ hands in a potential accident scenario. Its ASV-2 experimental vehicle has been designed with a focus on how well the car itself can respond when necessary. Radar cruise control with brake control ensures that a headway proportionate to the vehicle speed is maintained when driving behind another vehicle, using laser radar sensors located in the bumper. Toyota’s Navi-AI-Shift system allows the car to detect corners using information from the navigation system. When the driver takes his or her foot off the accelerator before a corner, the transmission automatically downshifts from fifth to third gear through the corner.

Night driving can be particularly hazardous, so Toyota’s Night View system supports the driver’s vision. When pedestrians, vehicles and other objects within and beyond the range of headlights are difficult to see, Night View displays them more clearly on the lower part of the windshield. The system uses near-infrared light and is able to display virtually all road surface information, such as road surface shape and the presence of fallen objects. However, if a crash is unavoidable, the pre-crash mechanism activates safety devices to reduce collision damage. Using millimeter-wave radar to detect other vehicles and objects on the road, the system retracts the seatbelt earlier and the brakes are applied faster.

Give me a brake
Over at Honda, researchers are concentrating their efforts on radar brake development, following the installation last summer of the world’s first automatic brake to reduce the chances of a rear-end collision in its luxury Inspire sedan. The system monitors road conditions and hazards via radar with a range of 100 meters ahead of the car. If a collision is judged to be unavoidable, there are three stages to reduce damage—a noise and light warning first flashes, the seat belt is then tightened slightly and a brake is slightly applied, and then the seat belt is tightened firmly and an automatic brake is applied. Toyota and Nissan have since followed suit, equipping their luxury cars Celsior and Cima with automatic brakes.

Furthermore, Honda is planning to equip its Legend (for the Japanese market) and Acura RL (for the North American market) with the new Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) system that determines the optimum front-rear and left-right torque distributions for outstanding vehicle stability by monitoring driver input and driving conditions. The SH-AWD combines front-rear torque-distribution control with independently regulated torque distribution to the left and right rear wheels to freely distribute the optimum amount of torque to all four wheels in accordance with driving conditions. Honda claims it is the first system of its kind in the world to provide cornering performance that responds faithfully to driver input.

Courtesy of Toyota

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