Improving Car Safety Technology to Reduce Auto, Pedestrian, & Cyclist Accidents

On March 5, 2013, Volvo Car Group officially announced the world-first cyclist detection technology. A radar sensor is placed in the car’s front grille and a camera is installed in the central control panel and interior rear-view mirror facing the street ahead. The technology can distinguish between pedestrians and now cyclists, which is called Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection with full auto brake.

If a cyclist or pedestrian were to get too close in front of the vehicle, a red flashing warning light would go off inside the vehicle and would automatically activate full braking power. This saves the driver from potentially hitting and injuring a pedestrian or cyclist in the event of a delayed or lack of reaction to instant danger.
Although Volvo’s new technology can reduce injury and damage, the technology is limited since the sensors protect the front of the car and not the back.

For Mercedes-Benz, it all started when engineer Karl-Heinz Baumann took a look at his daughter’s biology book and saw a picture of a cat twisting and stretching to get in the best position possible before landing on the ground. That picture sparked the idea in Baumann’s mind of creating that same concept for car safety. The concept to create technology that allows a vehicle and its occupants to be in the best position possible in anticipation of an accident. This idea turned into Mercedes-Benz PRE-SAFE® technology.

PRE-SAFE® technology was first introduced in 2002. The technology uses many sensors built in the vehicle that can recognize conditions prior to an accident and adjusts seats, head restraints, seat belts, and more. Throughout the years, the anticipatory occupant protection system has evolved and will introduce the following features later this year:

• PRE-SAFE PLUS focuses on rear-end collision preparation.
• PRE-SAFE IMPULSE will trigger the seatbelts to pull front occupants away from the collision area of the vehicle earlier.
• PRE-SAFE BRAKE will stop a vehicle completely if a pedestrian or object is detected on the road ahead.

It is exciting to see these auto manufacturers safety technology evolve to protect not only the drivers that purchase the vehicle but other unprotected road users as well. We applaud the hard work that has been done and will continue to do to help reduce injury accidents.

If you were a victim of a bicycle or pedestrian accident, get legal help from the experienced San Diego personal injury attorneys.…