Japanese Automakers Leading North American, European Rivals in the Race to Develop Safer Vehicles, Claims ABI Research

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--Jan. 1, 20051, 2005--2004 marked some significant milestones with regard to automotive safety, and the majority of these have come from Japanese automakers, according to a new study from ABI Research.

"Japanese automakers have been aggressively rolling out a new generation of vehicle safety systems, while North American and European OEMs have been playing catch-up," claims Frank Viquez, ABI Research's Director of Automotive Research. "What is important to note here is that the introduction of these systems are just stepping stones towards a larger plan to integrate all these ancillary systems into one fully interactive and sophisticated safety system."

Viquez adds that in 2004 Honda and Toyota were the first non-luxury automakers to commit to installing electronic stability control and antilock brake systems across their entire North American light truck model range, while Nissan was the first to introduce a lane departure warning system on a North American passenger car. Toyota was also the first OEM to introduce a low-speed adaptive cruise control system on a production vehicle.

The new ABI Research study, "Vehicle Safety Systems: World Markets for Adaptive Cruise Control, Night Vision, Lane Departure Warning, and Next-Gen Automotive Safety Systems" offers insight into how leading OEMs propose to differentiate their vehicle models through the use of such safety systems as adaptive front lighting, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and electronic stability control. Additional systems and technologies such as tire pressure monitoring systems, night vision systems, head-up displays, LED headlights and rear-mounted cameras are also examined.

The new study notes that despite GM's decision to discontinue offering night vision systems on its Cadillac models, Toyota and Honda still actively offer their own night vision systems. Honda has even raised the bar by incorporating pedestrian-recognition software designed to warn the driver both visually and audibly of a pedestrian in the roadway.

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