Ford pioneers online risk management

A dedicated, Ford-branded website, allows business drivers to complete user-friendly online risk assessments and e-learning modules. On-road defensive driver training courses are offered to drivers assessed to be ‘high risk’, based on individual responses to the questions.

The process includes monthly detail and summary report updates covering online registrations, assessment results and risk weightings.

Customers know how far each of their employees has progressed within the assessment process and there is an audit trail of all activity that is a critical part of a company’s duty of care obligation.

Director of Ford fleet Kevin Griffin said: “We are keen to assist our clients in complying with their duty of care obligations but there is an associated benefi t in the form of cost savings. More aware, better-informed and more confi dent drivers tend to avoid damaging incidents, use less fuel, and take more care with company assets. Effectively it’s another way of contributing to a reduction in wholelife costs.”

The initiative is open to any driver within a multi-badged fleet, providing at least some vehicles are purchased from Ford, and is applicable to both cars and vans.

Programme administration is being managed by long-time Ford supplier Drive & Survive. Its driver risk management interventions have been proven to reduce road incident rates by at least 20% in the fi rst year. The new programme – thought to be the fi rst for a vehicle manufacturer – is being offered to Ford customers at a subsidised, fixed price per head, irrespective of what training intervention is required.

Further information is available from Ford regional business development managers or Drive & Survive project manager Emily Nafgzer on 0870 1218339 or emily.nafzger@drivesurvive.co.uk

C-Class estate ‘safest in class’

Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz is billing the all-new C-Class estate, which goes on sale in the UK in summer 2008, as the ‘safest car in its class’.

The car shares features already seen on the C-Class saloon, which went on sale in the UK in the summer with many of the most advanced safety technologies previously reserved for more expensive models from the marque.

Occupants are protected by a total of seven airbags as standard and passengers on the outer rear seats also benefit from belt tensioners and belt force limiters.

Neck-Pro head restraints in the front have a crash-responsive design, meaning that they move to cushion the heads of the driver and front passenger at an early stage in a rear-end collision to guard against the risk of whiplash.

The integrated child seats, which fold out of the rear bench seat have undergone further development and are now also fitted with a wraparound head restraint.

Standard features include flashing brake lights, brake assist and electronic stability system that now incorporates tyre pressure monitoring and an automatic trailer stabilisation function.

The anticipatory occupant protection system Pre- Safe, which is optional, makes use of the time before an imminent accident to prepare the vehicle and its occupants for a collision.

The result is a considerable reduction in the loads exerted on the passengers upon impact. The intelligent light system is another technical innovation borrowed from the higherend models in the Mercedes range and is the only system of its kind in this market segment at the current time.

The system’s five different lighting functions are each suited to various typical driving and weather conditions.

Enhanced features for new Mazda6

New equipment includes bi-xenon head lamps, adaptive front lighting, a tyre pressure monitoring system, a Bluetooth mobile phone system (with seven languages) and a parking sensor system.

Stability control, ABS, electronic brake distribution, brake assist and traction control system are standard on all models.

On the inside, there is the first-time use of active head restraints to protect the neck in case of rear impact - standard on the front seats of all models - six airbags, front seat belts with pretensioners and load-limiters and collapsible brake and clutch pedals to reduce the chance of leg injury in a frontal impact.

More steering wheel-mounted controls - audio, air-conditioning, trip computer and Bluetooth - than ever before help ensure drivers don’t remove their hands from the wheel.

Collapsible pedals for C5

In the event of a crash the brake and clutch pedals retract into the floor of the footwell to limit injury to the driver’s legs and feet. A retractable steering column is also fitted.

Featuring up to nine airbags, the fixed central hub of the steering wheel ensures that the optimally-shaped driver’s airbag is always deployed at the right angle, while a knee airbag provides improved protection for the driver’s legs. Control in difficult conditions is aided by the C5’s advanced braking system – electronic brakeforce distribution, emergency braking assistance, ABS and ESP are all fitted as standard. Citroën’s lane departure warning system, warning drivers when the car unintentionally crosses lane markings, is available on some versions as are front and rear parking sensors, as well as a parking gap assistance system that determines the size of any available space and informs the driver.

Improved visibility at night is provided by the upper medium sector car’s enhanced headlight system. A static adaptive front lighting system (AFS) function incorporates an additional light source that improves visibility and safety on corners and at junctions. A dynamic AFS option is available on models equipped with Xenon dual-function directional headlamps, further improving visibility.

Volvo world first for DAC and LDW

Studies show that up to 90% of all road crashes are caused by driver distraction and, based on those statistics, Volvo is focusing on developing technology to help drivers avoid or reduce the severity of accidents caused by distraction or driver fatigue.

The two systems will be available as a £500 option.

Rather than monitoring human behaviour, which varies from one person to another, DAC monitors the progress of the car on the road. Monitoring driving behaviour is more reliable, says Volvo, as it assesses the impact that fatigue or distraction has on the car’s movements and assesses whether it’s being driven in a controlled, consistent manner.

This also means that DAC covers a wider range of situations, such as when the driver is focusing too much attention on a mobile phone conversation or distraction by passengers in the car.

The system consists of a camera located between the windscreen and the interior rear view mirror, a number of sensors and a control unit.

The camera measures the distance between the car and the road lane markings, while the sensors register the car’s movements. This information is sent to the control unit which then calculates whether the driver is at risk of losing control of the car.

If the risk is assessed as ‘high’, the driver is alerted via an audible signal, while a text message and coffee cup symbol appear in the car’s information display to urge the driver to take a break. It is claimed that the LDW system can help to prevent 30 to 40% of crashes caused by single car road departures and head-on collisions. LDW uses the camera located between the windscreen and the rear view mirror and monitors the car’s position between the road markings. The system is activated via a button on the centre console and gives a warning sound if the car crosses one of the road markings without reason such as if the indicator hasn’t been used.

Both the DAC and LDW are activated when a car reaches 40 mph and they will stay active as long as the speed exceeds 37 mph.

Meanwhile, new collision warning and auto brake technology, which automatically activates the brakes when a rear-end collision is imminent will also shortly be available as a £1,300 option along with adaptive cruise control and distance alert - to help drivers maintain a steady distance to the vehicle in front - on S80, V70 and XC70.

The new collision warning with auto brake enhances the collision warning with brake support that was introduced in 2006 and uses both radar and a camera to detect vehicles in front of the car. The radar has a range of 150 metres while the camera range is 55 metres. By combining the information from both the radar and camera the system becomes more efficient and with statistics showing that 50% of rear-end impacts involve a stationary object, the system can also detect stationary vehicles.

Alcolocks for Volvo next year

One in three traffic fatalities in Europe is alcohol related and around 3,000 people in the UK are killed or seriously injured each year in drink-drive collisions, according to Department for Transport statistics.

To help reduce the number of alcohol-related road incidents, Volvo’s Alcoguard is due to be available initially as a £600 accessory in the UK on the S80, V70 and XC70 and will be available on other models later. Volvo estimates global sales of 2,000 units a year – a figure expected to increase over time.

Alcoguard employs the same fuelcell technology used by the majority of police forces in Europe. Before the car can be started, the driver has to blow into a wireless hand-held unit, the breath is then analysed and if the blood-alcohol limit of 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood is exceeded, a red LED will appear and the engine will not start.

The preset limit of 20mg has been chosen to meet Swedish legislation, a Volvo dealer can alter the setting to the UK limit, which is 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.

Further results of the breathalyser test are also shown via two other LEDs. Green means 0-10mg alcohol per 100ml of blood and the car engine will start, while yellow signals 10mg-20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood and the car will start but the driver is advised not to drive. The results are stored for 30 minutes after the engine has been turned off, so if the driver stops for a short while they do not need to repeat the procedure.

New Kangoo boasts car-like safety features

Using the Renault Scenic’s running gear, road holding is improved due to the front and rear tracks being 12cm wider than on the previous-generation Kangoo Van. With front and rear shock absorbers calibrated to optimise the roadholding balance under different load conditions, Renault says there is virtually no difference in vehicle roll between empty and fully-loaded confi gurations.

With stopping distances claimed to be among the best on the market, all versions have ABS with electronic brake distribution and emergency brake assist with automatic activation of hazard warning lamps. And new Kangoo Van innovates by offering ABS with engine torque overrun regulation which prevents the wheels locking under sudden deceleration on slippery road surfaces. Some versions of Kangoo Van are available with optional ESP plus CSV understeer control to round off an active safety package that is claimed to be ‘unprecedented’ in the compact LCV market.

ASR traction control ensures safe pullaway when grip is at a premium, even with a full load.

Lexus hybrid has latest pre-crash safety features

The range-topping LS 600h, which costs from £81,400, has done more to focus the minds of company bosses on their own corporate social responsibility than anything else, according to Andy Simpson, the manufacturer’s national corporate and remarketing manager.

With 28% of Lexus sales in the UK now hybrid – 3,485 in the first nine months of 2007 – he said: “Hybrid has more credibility than it had 12 months ago and that is being driven by chief executives wanting to reduce their carbon footprint. The LS600h has come to their attention and they have realised that they can have everything they had with their previous executive car but can now reduce their environmental impact. About 80% of our hybrid sales are conquest business.

“We are being inundated with requests for the LS and that message is filtering down to fleet managers who are being told to get on board with hybrid. Company chief executives are looking at their own and their organisation’s environmental credentials and by taking action they hope to win the hearts and minds of customers who also care about protecting the planet.”

Among the plethora of safety systems on the car, is the world’s first driver monitoring system forming part of the advanced pre-crash safety system. It brings together a series of features that can recognise a potentially dangerous situation, help the driver take avoiding action and reduce the risk of a collision happening. If there is an impact, they also work to help minimise the consequences.

The system monitors movement of the driver’s head. If the driver’s head is turned away from the road at an angle of more than 15 degrees when the vehicle is moving and an obstacle is detected ahead, the system automatically activates the pre-crash warning buzzer and briefly applies the brakes to warn of the danger.

If this still fails to prompt action from the driver, the pre-crash safety system engages emergency braking preparation and pretensioning of the front seatbelts.

As long as the driver’s face is in the clear sight-line of a steering column-mounted camera with six built-in near-infrared LEDs, it will function accurately, regardless of the driver’s seat position, facial characteristics, or if sunglasses are being worn.

As well as scanning the driver’s face and the road ahead, the Lexus LS is also looking behind with its rear pre-crash safety system. If it detects an imminent collision, the front seat headrests will automatically move up and forwards to cushion the occupants’ heads and help prevent whiplash injury. The system operates whether the car is moving or stationary.

If a collision is calculated to be unavoidable, the system activates the front seat pre-crash intelligent headrests, greatly reducing the risk of whiplash injury.

News in brief

More than a quarter of a million children have gained practical life-saving skills through the three-year British Red Cross ‘Don’t Be a Bystander’ campaign, supported by Toyota. The project has also provided more than 500,000 UK youngsters aged nine to 13 with key information on roadside fi rst aid. Toyota’s backing for the campaign supported its global ambition to improve road safety and eliminate traffi c accident fatalities. Meanwhile, the risks faced by older drivers are the focus of a new road safety campaign, ‘Keep Driving Safely’, supported by Toyota. Working with the charity Help the Aged, Toyota Motor Europe has commissioned a series of posters, designed to make motorists think about issues that can affect their safety behind the wheel including driving at night, in poor weather or for long distances, the effects of medication and the risks involved with merging traffic and in making right turns. They have initially been distributed to GP surgeries, pharmacies, Help the Aged shops and community centres in the UK. Generally, older people are the safest drivers, but the natural effects of ageing on eyesight, hearing, dexterity, mobility and memory can compromise driving ability.

Entitled ‘Driving Home Road Safety 2007’, the drive had the support of the United Nations, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Foundation and UNICEF. They became the fi rst people to traverse the full extent of the new Asian Highway road network during a 49-day drive which saw them cross no fewer than 18 countries. In the same time it took to complete the journey, an estimated 150,000 people would have been killed on the world’s roads, including 25,000 children.

Drivers set their maximum speed using a steering wheel button and a bleep will sound when the desired limit is breached. Standard and on C+C and from Acenta on the hatchback, Nissan says the device is useful when going through reduced speed areas such as roadworks, villages or near schools.

However, that ‘suicide’ rear-hinged door can only be unlatched when the driver’s door is open. When parked people are likely to have to enter/exit the rear seats from the road rather than the pavement in right-hand drive countries such as the UK. The company says moving the door to the other side of the vehicle for right-hand drive markets would have meant an expensive re-engineering exercise.

Expected to cost between £65,000 and £75,000, the model features a ‘pop-up bonnet’ to help reduce head impact injuries in the event of a pedestrian collision.

Four wide-angle cameras mounted on the front, sides and rear of vehicles are designed to aid parking. Initially launched in Japan, the technology will also appear on Infiniti models in the United States. No decision has been made on UK availability.

<< Back to contents page

• < previous article
• |
• next article >