Cars and trucks are becoming more friendly as automakers load in a lot of new technology aimed at helping drivers stop more quickly, prevent skids and, in general, stay more in control.
Some of this technology is showing up for the first time in 1999 and 2000 models. In other cases, technology that has been in luxury models is filtering into mid- and entry-level vehicles, as anti-lock brakes have done.
What follows is a roundup of features you might want to look for the next time you shop for a new car or truck:
NIGHT VISION
Offered by Cadillac, Night Vision will debut on the 2000 DeVille. It uses thermal-imaging to help drivers see objects well beyond the range of headlights.
Depending on conditions, Cadillac executives say, the system allows drivers to see three to five times farther down the road than low-beam headlights. It also can help drivers to see whether someone is hiding in the bushes or out of the range of the headlights in the driveway.
Thermal imaging uses heat energy that people, animals and objects produce to project an image that looks like a negative, with hotter objects appearing in white and cooler objects in black. The image is projected as a heads-up display on the windshield, so drivers can keep their eyes on the road while using the system.
REAR VISION
Cars are providing eyes in the back of the head, too, with systems designed to help drivers detect objects behind the vehicle.
These reverse sensing systems use beeps or chimes to warn drivers that they may be about to hit an object. It’s in vehicles such as the 2000 Cadillac DeVille and Jaguar S-Type and the 1999 Ford Explorer and Windstar and Mercury Mountaineer. BMW has a system available on many models that operates on front and rear bumpers.
WHIPLASH PROTECTION
While many people treat whiplash injuries as a joke, more and more automakers are not.
Saab has a sophisticated head-restraint system available throughout its model line. In a rear impact, the head restraint moves up and forward to prevent the whiplash movement of the head. Volvo’s 1999 S80 has a seat that tips backward to help absorb crash energy and prevent the whiplash movement. The 2000 Pontiac Bonneville and Buick LeSabre have seats that combine self-aligning head restraints, such as those in Saabs, with what engineers cal l “High-retention” front seats. They are designed to absorb energy from the impact and better catch and hold an occupant in the seat during a rear collision.
PEDAL EXTENDERS
Adjustable gas and brake pedals are standard equipment on the 1999 Lincoln Navigator and an option on the 1999 Ford Expedition and 2000 Taurus. With the touch of a switch on the instrument panel, the pedals move up to three inches to allows shorter drivers to sit farther from the steering wheel and its air bag while easily reaching the pedals.
TIRE INFLATION MONITORS
The 2000 Buick LeSabre and Chevrolet Impala are among the General Motors’ models that have tire inflation monitors as standard or optional to advise a driver to check tire pressure if a low tire is detected. They also are available on the 1999 Oldsmobile Alero and Pontiac Grand Am.
TRUNK RELEASES
GM will offer kits for most of its 1990 and newer family passenger cars to let trapped children escape the trunk to keep them from suffocating, which happened to 11 children last year. The dealer-installed kits will be available for $50. GM will offer them as options on some 1999 and all 2000 cars. Ford is going to install an emergency trunk-release system as standard equipment on all Ford cars, beginning with the 2000 Taurus.
FAST BRAKES
Some automakers offer systems that enhance emergency braking by recognizing “panic” braking and applying full braking power automatically to reduce stopping distances. Mercedes-Benz research showed that 99 percent of drivers were slow to apply the brakes or applied full brake pressure too late. Mercedes Calls its system “brake assist.” Though it’s separate from anti-lock brakes, brake assist relies on ABS to prevent the wheels from locking up. It applies the brakes harder and faster than humanly possible. ABS releases the brakes momentarily whenever a wheel is on the verge of locking up in emergency braking and allows the driver to continue steering. ABS does necessarily shorten stopping distances. Mercedes, however, says brake assist system reduces stopping distances by 45 percent. The system is standard throughout the Mercedes’ line, on BMW’s higher-end models and on the Saab 9-5.
SKID CONTROL
Skid, or “yaw” control systems are designed to restore a vehicle’s stability when it’s on the verge of losing control. These systems detect oversteer (rear-end “fishtailing”) and understeer (front-end “plowing”) and apply the brakes to the correct wheel to help the driver maintain control. Mercedes, Lexus, BMW and Cadillac have similar systems, as do the 1999 Volvo S80 and 2000 Pontiac Bonneville.
CHILD SEAT ANCHORS
Estimates show that more than 80 percent of all child seats are improperly installed. This is in part because the designs of vehicles and child seats make it hard to anchor restraints firmly and in part because it’s difficult to thread the seat belt through the child seat. A new regulation that requires a simple, universal system for attaching child safety seats to vehicles is affecting automobile design.
Under the rule, all new child safety seats have to have three standard attachments, a tether on top and two anchors, or hooks, at the base. All new vehicles have to have a corresponding upper tether anchor, generally on the package shelf behind the rear seats, and two anchors where the vehicle’s seat cushion and seat back meet.
Parents can then snap the special hooks built onto the child seat into the anchors, eliminating the need to thread the safety belt through the child seat. The top tether is designed to keep a child seat more snug against the vehicle’s seat than one secured only at the bottom with a seat belt. That can reduce the distance a child’s head is thrown forward in a crash.
Starting Sept. 1, 80 percent of all new cars must have the top tether anchor. By Sept. 1, 2000, all new cars and light trucks must have the top anchor. The lower anchor system begins to be phased in Sept. 1, 2000. By September 2002, all new vehicles will have the complete system.
Tether anchors are available in the rear seats of the 1999 Ford Windstar and 2000 Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Impala and Buick LeSabre. All 1999 Volkswagen products (except the EuroVan) have the lower anchors. The 2000 Ford Windstar and 2000 Focus will have the complete system.
`SMART’ AIR BAGS
Air bags are getting smarter.
Mercedes-Benz’s BabySmart child seat recognition system, once available on only two-seaters, is standard through the lineup. The system can sense when a BabySmart-compatible seat is present and turn off the passenger-side front air bag.
The 1999 Hyundai Sonata’s passenger-side air bags–front and side–won’t deploy if the seat is empty or if a baby or small child is there. GM has announced it will install a similar system for the front passenger air bag beginning with the Cadillac Seville in the 2000 calendar year and extending throughout the product line.
Parents should remember the safest place for children is in the back seat. But because a child might occasionally be placed in the front seat of a vehicle with a side air bag, the 1999 Acura 3.5RL features seat sensors that determine the occupant’s size and seating position. The sensors will not allow the air bag to inflate if a small passenger is leaning into its path, for example a child is napping against the door.
Air bags on some vehicles can distinguish between high- and low-speed crashes and belted and unbelted occupants and deploy accordingly. These systems use only the seat-belt pretensioners, which tighten the seat belts in a crash to help hold occupants in place, in a low-speed collision if occupants are belted. The air bag deploys if they are not belted.
At higher speeds, the system uses the pretensioners and the bag. BMW and Volvo have similar systems across their lines, and BMW’s passenger-side bag deploys only when the seat is occupied.
In other systems, the bag deploys with less force in low-speed collisions and with greater force in higher-speed collisions. If a passenger’s seat belt is not fastened, the air bag deploys with full force at all times. The system, which also uses seat-belt pretensioners, is being introduced in Acura’s 1999 3.5RL.
Ford has announced a system that does all of the above for the 2000 Taurus and will extend it to all products. It will analyze crash conditions and activate safety devices based on safety-belt use, the driver’s proximity to the steering wheel, passenger weight and crash severity.
HEAD BAGS
Some luxury carmakers (BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo) have added air bags to protect the head in a side impact. Other manufacturers are taking a different approach that involves side air bags, generally mounted in the sides of the front seats, to protect the head and chest in a side impact. This is making head protection available in less expensive models. Look for these bags in the 1999 Ford Windstar and Explorer, Mercury Cougar and Mountaineer, Lincoln Continental and Town Car and all Jaguar XJ8 models.
The following 2000 models will join the list: Ford Focus and Taurus, Mercury Sable, Lincoln LS and Jaguar S-Type. The bags are standard equipment in Jaguars and Lincolns and optional equipment in Ford and Mercury models. (Prices vary with the model generally are around $300.) Volvo has added head protection to its side air bags in its 1999 S70 and V70 models.
BMW’s Head Protection System, for front-seat occupants, is standard in 5- and 7-Series sedans and 3-Series compacts. The 1999 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and 2000 S-Class and the 1999 Volvo S80 use a side curtain that protects front and rear occupants.
