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Automakers stress safety

An Active Passive Integration Approach System is shown on a BMW test vehicle at the Continental headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
An Active Passive Integration Approach System is shown on a BMW test vehicle at the Continental headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

DETROIT — Every day across America, cars rear-end the vehicle in front. Drowsy drivers drift into the wrong lane. Motorists are tossed from an open window in a rollover.

Most motorists on the road are protected by safety belts, air bags, and brakes. But new safety innovations on display at the North American International Auto Show — radar systems, cameras, top-notch software and improved designs — will soon become more widespread.

“Safety is a competitive issue,” said Fred Webber, president and chief executive of The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “And when it becomes a competitive issue in the automobile industry, that means the companies are going to do bigger and better things.”

More than 42,000 people die annually on the nation’s highways, a number pushing automakers, safety advocates and others to make driving safer. While wearing a seat belt remains the best way to survive a crash, the technology could add more tools to make vehicles safer.

Some of the advances deal with what automakers call “active safety,” which involves technology used to keep drivers out of danger and help them anticipate problems. The upgrades are mostly limited to expensive luxury models for now but could offer a glimpse of the future, much the same way that airbags evolved in the marketplace.

“It’s like having two brains in the vehicle,” said Dean McConnell, Continental Automotive System’s director of occupant safety and driver assistance systems.

Continental has worked with several automakers on “intelligent” systems that use radars to assess the potential danger of a crash, allowing a car to detect how quickly it’s coming up on the vehicle in front of it and adjust its speed to avoid rear-ending it.

In the event of a potential crash, a signal or beep might warn a motorist, tighten the seat belt to put the person in a safer position, ready the brakes and instantly close the sunroof or windows to prevent someone from being thrown from the vehicle.

The technology is only an aid to drivers and doesn’t take away a motorist’s control of the vehicle, the company said during a recent demonstration at its Auburn Hills, Mich., facility.