That last second before crashing

By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2007-05-05

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Research indicates that as many as two-thirds of collisions could be avoided with appropriate evasive action by drivers, but training drivers for that evasive action has always been controversial. The theory was that training in skills such as skid control and evasive maneuvers made drivers overconfident and more prone to risk taking. Research seemed to back up this idea.

Now it looks as if technology can chip in to save the day. Pre-crash sensing technology has been explored for years. Now it is apparently ready for popular use.

Continental Automotive Systems have developed an optical "closing velocity sensor" they say is the world's first system of this type. It will be launched in a series production car in 2008.

"If the distance between vehicles is closing so quickly that a rear-end collision is imminent," says Continental, "the brakes are put on alert mode, i.e. sufficient pressure is built up in the braking system that the brakes respond as soon as the driver applies the brake pedal." And once the driver takes their foot off the accelerator pedal the sensing system automatically initiates braking. It can also tighten safety belts in case the car does crash.

The system can prevent a car travelling at up to 35 km/h towards a stationary obstacle from crashing into it, says Continental. And it's sensitive enough to register single-track vehicles (motorcycles or bicycles) and pedestrians.

Continental say their system will make precrash functionality affordable even for small and mid-range vehicles, since it's easily integrated into the vehicle electronics and does not require any adjustment to the vehicle structure.

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