IIHS questions the effectiveness of five new safety features
The view above your left knee in the 2009 Infiniti FX.
In the last 24 hours, we've been accosted with more high-tech, in-car wizardry than we've ever asked for. And while you'll have to wait until next week to read our review of the new Infiniti FX, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has weighed in on the top five new safety technologies that may, or may not, have an effect on crash rates.
The IIHS studied how blind-spot detection systems, adaptive headlamps, lane-departure warning systems, forward-collision warning systems with automatic braking and emergency brake assist, work and how they may prevent collisions.
Of the 2.3 million frontal crashes that take place annually, 7,200 result in a fatality. The proliferation of systems that can detect an imminent frontal collision, sound a warning and if the drive doesn't react, preload all the safety systems and begin applying the brakes may prove useful. The same goes for lane departure warning systems, which notify the driver with a tone if they begin veering out of their lane. Others, like blind-spot detection systems won't have as much affect on road fatalities since they don't account for a substantial amount of fatal crashes, but they'll certainly make people more aware of their surroundings.
The IIHS also noted that adaptive headlamps, which turn in conjunction with the wheel to illuminate around a curve, might cause drivers to increase their speed, making a crash more probable. While we don't buy that last one, it highlights the point that's often left out of these studies: driver error is the number one cause of collisions. Fix that and all this added technology is superfluous.
[Source: IIHS via Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
epilonious 2:40PM (4/17/2008)
"While we don't buy that last one, it highlights the point that's often left out of these studies: driver error is the number one cause of collisions. Fix that and all this added technology is superfluous."
So, don't let the owners of the car drive it anymore.
How are those automatic driving systems coming along? I do want to be able to get into a car and say "home" and then read a book for the entire within my lifetime.... and I want to do it without having to pay for a chauffeur.
Reply
Samurai Jack 3:25PM (4/17/2008)
Then why not ride the bus? Some of us want to drive because we enjoy driving.
Chris Ice 3:36PM (4/17/2008)
Samurai Jack: Why not ride the bus?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYTBhIs6i_c
Cornholio 2:42PM (4/17/2008)
None of these systems are going to make a bad driver good.
Some may save a bad driver from a serious mistake, but in a sense I believe they build a sense of false confidence as well. And eventually, the bad driver overcomes the electronic nannies and stuffs their car into a ditch.
If only we would focus on teaching people to actually DRIVE a car....
Reply
d3a 2:47PM (4/17/2008)
What a stupid location to the put the ignition key at.
There is nothing more satisfying that putting a traditional key into a traditional ignition on the steering column.
Pushing a button on the dash or inserting a 'fob' in the dash does nothing for me.
Reply
Limited 3:12PM (4/17/2008)
It like that on most Infiniti and Nissan cars equip with the smart key. It merely a storage location, you don't need to insert the FOB in that location to start the car. The smart key was always intended by Nissan to stay in your pocket.
Ligor 3:18PM (4/17/2008)
to add to that the key needs to be inserted so that the battery can be recharged, but on a daily basis you'll leave the key in your pocket or purse
RC 8:34PM (4/17/2008)
I dunno...
I find it extremely satisfying by pushing the blue "Start/Stop" button in my mom's G35.. :-p
wmtellarcher 5:55PM (4/19/2008)
d3a: Apparantly you are not aware that the ignition key was originally inserted somewhere in the dash. It wasn't until about the 1960's that they started putting them in the steering column. Therefore, the dash is the "traditional" location for them.
zach 2:47PM (4/17/2008)
How about taking 50% of the money the car companies spend on developing these technologies and instead use it to implement a "real" driver licensing program similar to Germany's. I'd happily trade electronic nannies for educated drivers.
Reply
Chris Ice 2:55PM (4/17/2008)
What the h*ll do most of those acronyms mean?! VDC = vehicle dynamics control (I think), but the rest of them? WTF? And I thought Porsche was bad.
Reply
JW 3:14PM (4/17/2008)
Various placed poo-pood the LR2 when you had to dock the keyfob, but what do you wanna bet they will think docking the keyfob in the FX will be SO TEH COOL!
VP 4:22PM (4/17/2008)
@Chris,
My thoughts exactly!! How is the average driver supposed to figure out all those acronyms? I think mission control for the space shuttle is less complicated than that.
Level 3:09PM (4/17/2008)
I pay a monkey to drive me around...drives better then most do....
Reply
leather bear 3:35PM (4/17/2008)
Back in the day when driver’s air bags started showing up in a few high-end luxury cars (and NHTSA was only hinting at making them mandatory), some wag (a Car and Driver columnist, IIRRC) suggested that more lives would be saved overall if, instead of the air bag, there was a shotgun shell aimed directly at the driver’s heart. Sure, a few innocents might get taken out, but think of how courteous drivers would be if they knew acting stoopid behind the wheel could be a shortcut to the hereafter.
Reply
Seminole 3:51PM (4/17/2008)
I'd just cover my steering wheel with ballistic steel :-D!
Toy Yoda 4:34PM (4/17/2008)
And that satirical remark about shotguns may contain a grain of truth. I've come across through various math readings references to many statistical studies since the 1970's showing that safety features do not save any lives, because any benefits it bestows is quickly offset by the overconfidence it gives drivers. I've never read any of these so studies, but it does make you think about it.
Certainly when I get into a car, I don't often think "I might hit someone today, or I might get into an accident and die." And since I don't have those thoughts, perhaps that's overconfidence on my part.
Dolemite 5:24PM (4/17/2008)
I like the shotgun idea, but a better thing would be to take anyone caught going 20 over the speed limit and shoot them on the side of the road. It would be barbaric, but it would also be effective.
Of course I think it would reduce Autoblog readership by half.
Logik 10:02PM (4/17/2008)
Better yet, take the left lane turtles to the side of the road and shoot them.
Ben 3:37PM (4/17/2008)
I wrote about this a couple weeks ago: http://syncranium-ue.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-technology-becomes-too-much.html
Reply