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TECHNOLOGYThursday 28 December 2017
Edmunds sizes up new car-safety technology
By RONALD MONTOYA wanders and your vehicle
Edmunds starts to drift out of the
We are in a new era of car lane, a lane departure
safety: The focus has shift- system warns you with a
ed from reducing death beep, vibration or visual
and injury in a vehicle col- cue on the instrument
lision to preventing a crash panel. If the vehicle also is
from happening in the first equipped with lane keep-
place. Safety features de- ing assist, it will go beyond
signed to avoid accidents just a warning: It will make
are becoming increasingly a minor steering or braking
common in new cars. correction to keep the car
Here is an overview of the in its lane. Common names
advanced safety features for these systems are La-
you’re likely to encounter neSense (Chrysler), Active
when shopping for a new Lane Keeping Assist (Mer-
car, along with examples cedes-Benz) and Lane De-
of what carmakers call parture Alert with Steering
their versions of the fea- Assist (Toyota). NHTSA rec-
tures. ommends lane departure
FORWARD COLLISION This graphic provided by Volvo shows how a rear cross-traffic system spots oncoming vehicles. warning but does not yet
Associated Press
WARNING: If you come recommend lane keeping
up behind a slower or assist. SHOULD YOU GET IT?
stopped vehicle and don’t Forward Collision Warning minimize an impact. It is of- down and follow the vehi- Yes, but to get the most
(Infiniti), Forward Collision ten bundled with forward cle ahead at a preset dis-
show signs of braking, the Alert (Chevrolet) and For- collision warning and goes tance. The naming is fairly out of it, make sure to get
ward Obstruction Warning by names such as City standard, with the excep-
forward collision warning (Mazda). Safety automatic brak- tion of more advanced a system with lane keeping
SHOULD YOU GET IT? Yes. ing (Volvo), Low Speed systems such as Super
system will alert you that an Distracted driving is at an Forward Automatic Brak- Cruise (Cadillac), ProPilot assist, not just the warning.
all-time high, and this sys- ing (Cadillac) and Frontal Assist (Nissan) and Autopi-
impact is imminent. Some tem can serve as an ex- Collision Warning with City lot (Tesla). If the car’s camera can
tra set of eyes to prevent Collision Mitigation (BMW). SHOULD YOU GET IT? It de-
carmaker names for this an accident. The National SHOULD YOU GET IT? Yes. pends. These systems re- no longer see the painted
Highway Traffic Safety Ad- The fact it is becoming quire you to trust the car to
feature include Predictive ministration recommends a standard feature soon speed up and slow down lanes, or if you veer out to
the technology. speaks to its importance. on its own. If you’re not OK
AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY ADAPTIVE CRUISE CON- with that or don’t use cruise make room for a cyclist, it
BRAKING: This system will TROL: This system is less an control at all, save your
become a standard fea- active safety feature than money. And, just as with will trigger an alert. Some
ture on nearly all cars and a way to reduce driver some drivers, some systems
light trucks by 2022, thanks fatigue on the highway. brake more smoothly than may find the beeping an-
to an agreement among Let’s say you set the cruise others.
most carmakers and NHT- control at 70 mph. If a you BLIND-SPOT MONITORING: noying and choose to
SA. If the vehicle senses an catch up to another ve- This system will scan the
imminent collision, the sys- hicle or one gets into your rear corners of the vehicle mute the alerts. That’s why
tem will automatically ap- lane, the system will apply and light up your side mir-
Aruba Divi Phoenix ply the brakes to avoid or the brakes to slow your car rors when it detects a ve- the lane keeping function,
1 BR WK 51 7th Floor hicle in those zones. It’s
Tower 1 1/2 Bath one of the most common with its noiseless, more sub-
19 weeks remain new safety technologies,
10 can be accelerated available on about 73 per- tle physical cues, is more
$12,500 cent of 2017 models, ac-
Call;630-1307 cording to Edmunds data. useful.
johnnypaesch@gmail.com Some automaker names
include Side Blind Zone REAR CROSS-TRAFFIC
Divi Village Alert (Chevrolet), Audi Side
1 BR Wk 52 in the 4th floor Assist (Audi) and Blind Spot ALERT: This system is most
C Building with elvator Detection (Hyundai).
OLD Contract 14 Weeks remain SHOULD YOU GET IT? Yes, useful when you’re in a
5 accelerated $6000 but you must regularly use
Call:630-1307 your turn signals to get the parking lot and have to re-
johnnypaesch@gmail.com most out of it. Some sys-
tems will activate the warn- verse out of a space. Sen-
Divi Links Golf ing light when a vehicle is
2 BR Lock Out in your blind spot, but the sors on the rear bumpers
week 51 Birdie 1 warning tone or vibration
27 Weeks remain 9 accelerated will only occur when your detect an approaching
$25,000 turn signal is activated.
Call:630-1307 LANE DEPARTURE WARN- vehicle and warn you that
johnnypaesch@gmail.com ING AND LANE KEEPING
ASSIST: If your attention it’s there. Names include
________________________________208870
Rear Cross Path Detection
(Fiat), Moving Object De-
tection (Infiniti) and Rear
Traffic Alert (Volkswagen).
SHOULD YOU GET IT? Yes,
but don’t expect it to
catch everything. As the
name implies, the sensors
will spot objects crossing
from the sides of the vehi-
cle. If something or some-
one is directly behind the
vehicle, you won’t get the
alert.
EDMUNDS SAYS:
Most of these safety sys-
tems are good to have,
but you’ll usually find them
on higher trim levels or bun-
dled in optional packages.
Make sure you rank your list
of must-have safety fea-
tures before making a final
purchasing decision.q
