Auto Industry Crusades to Develop 'Crash Avoidance' Technology

23 October 2000

    NEW YORK, Oct. 22 Plagued by tire-safety problems, Ford
Motor Company this week is expected to announce a new "Traffic View" system
that uses forward-facing video cameras in its cars' side mirrors, designed to
give drivers a 360-degree view of the road, writes Detroit Bureau Chief Keith
Naughton in the October 30 issue of Newsweek.  The system would also feature a
camera mounted inside the car that will beam the occupants' image to the
emergency room preparing to treat them if they do get into an accident.  And
if they are unconscious, the ambulance will find them because their car's
navigation system will signal a Global Positioning satellite.
    At other major auto companies, too, engineers are hard at work on the next
generation of "crash avoidance" technology -- electronic sensors, radar,
lasers and satellites -- as safety takes on an even larger role in the auto
industry, Naughton writes in the issue (on newsstands Monday, October 23).
Even before the Ford-Firestone tire recall, the auto industry began
transforming how cars are designed and marketed with a strong focus on safety.
    According to a new Newsweek Poll, an overwhelming majority of registered
voters said that a car's safety features and safety record are either the
single most important consideration (52%) or an important consideration (40%)
to them when purchasing a car -- and 83 percent said they are willing to spend
more money to buy a safer car.  Only 14 percent said they weren't willing to
spend more.  The poll also shows that 55 percent think the government is not
doing enough to require automobile manufacturers to provide information about
the safety and accident records of the cars they sell (35% said the government
was doing enough).  Some of the innovations being worked on and expected to be
available in 3 to 10 years include:

    -- Sensors embedded in bumpers, doors and seats that will anticipate a
       crash and direct all the car's safety devices to work in harmony to
       allow the occupants to survive.  Soon air bags will pop out at the
       knees and feet and automakers will introduce "smart airbags" which
       won't deploy when children are seated in front of them.  Based on the
       angle and speed of the impact, airbags will fire at a precise velocity
       -- or not at all -- while "smart" seat belts will instantly retract to
       snug occupants in their seats and then, a fraction of a second later,
       slacken to allow them to "ride down the crash" to avoid whiplash and
       broken ribs.
    -- Air bags on front bumpers of cars would blow out when a car detects a
       pedestrian about to be hit.
    -- Japan is testing an intelligent highway, which uses Global Positioning
       satellites and road sensors to warn drivers of hazards in their path.
       If the driver doesn't take evasive measures, the eye in the sky takes
       control and steers him out of harms way.