Would you pay more for safety?
New rules may make expensive car safety features compulsory in the next few years. Are they worth the money you’ll have to pay? David Linklater reports.
The European Union is making a radical proposal to require all new cars to be fitted with at least 11 different hi-tech safety features, as part of its Third Mobility Package programme.
The move would have direct consequences for New Zealand new-car buyers, as this country is a ‘‘technology taker’’ rather than a vehicle manufacturer.
If a new generation of European-sourced models appears with significantly higher levels of safety and driver-assistance technology, it’s likely that prices will rise.
The Third Mobility Package is part of a new EU road safety policy framework for 2020-2030.
See below for a list of all 11 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) features the EU wants to see made standard.
The case for making expensive safety technology mandatory could be partly based on car buyers’ reluctance to pay extra for it as an option – perhaps because many do not fully understand how much of it works.
A March 2018 survey of more than 2000 drivers by Surveygoo, on behalf of British road safety charity Brake, revealed that 90 per cent of drivers agreed that all new cars should have the latest safety features.
However, less than half said they would spend more to ensure their vehicle had technology like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) or Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA).
In the survey, 58 per cent of drivers said they didn’t know what AEB was. When the technology was explained, only 15 per cent thought their car was fitted with AEB, with 12 per cent unsure.
Sixty-seven per cent of drivers said they didn’t know what ISA was. When the technology was explained, only 15 per cent thought their car was fitted with ISA, with 7 per cent unsure.
Here are the features the EU wants to make compulsory.
Autonomous emergency braking
AEB can help avoid crashes or mitigate their severity by warning the driver and supporting braking response and/or applying the brakes independently of the driver.
Intelligent speed assistance
Helps a driver keep within speed limits by warning them when the speed limit is exceeded, or by actively reducing the vehicle’s speed.
Alcohol interlock installation
An interlock requires a driver to breathe into a special device in the vehicle, which analyses alcohol content and will not allow the vehicle to start if the driver is over the limit. This technology is already used in NZ for driving offences related to alcohol.
Drowsiness alert
Drowsiness alert systems monitor driving behaviour – if a driver is regularly swaying across the centre lane, for example – and will issue alerts if it deems that tiredness is affecting operation of the vehicle.
Distraction recognition
Think of this as a safety-related application for the facial recognition software on your mobile phone: cameras inside the car monitor the driver’s face and warn when attention moves away from the road for extended periods.
Data recorder
Like a flight recorder, this would store detailed real-time information that could help authorities ascertain what caused a crash.
Emergency stop signal
In an emergency braking situation – especially at high speed on a motorway – emergency stop signals automatically activate the hazard lights so that drivers behind can see you are braking heavily.
Full width frontal crash testing leading to improved seatbelt designs
EU recommendations include even more stringent crash tests that apply impact force to the entire width of the car, rather just an offset crash.
This would lead to a requirement for stronger and more sophisticated seatbelt technology.
Larger head impact crash zone for pedestrians and cyclists
Crash tests already account for pedestrians and rate cars accordingly. But the EU wants to make more areas of the car safer for car-to-person impacts.
Lane keeping assistance
Lane-keep detects when a car is on a multi-lane road or motorway and uses automatic steering assistance to help the vehicle stay straight and in the middle of its lane.
Pole side impact protection
The EU wants more focus on passive safety to protect occupants from pole side impacts.
Reversing camera or detection system
A reversing camera gives a view of the rear of the car via a screen in the dashboard. Rear detection – aka radar – warns of obstacles with a series of more insistent beeps as they get closer. Many cars have both camera and radar.
Tyre pressure monitoring
Pressure monitors warn the driver if any tyres are at lower pressure than required or losing air. Some have pressure-measuring devices inside the actual tyre, while others measure the rotation of the wheel (if one is spinning faster than the other, it means it’s low on air).