A Death-Proof Car?

16-June-2009

advertisement ^

Anyone remember the Quentin Tarantino movie "Death Proof," about a crazy stunt driver aptly named 'Stuntman Mike' who believes his 70's Chevrolet Nova is 'death-proof'?

A rundown for those not lucky enough to have caught the gory film - after installing shatter-proof glass, reinforced steel beams, a cage and a five-point seat belt on the driver's side of his Chevy to ensure his own safety, Mike hits the road at high speeds with a-typical Tarantino results. Yes, I'm talking blood on the tarmac and more gore than a Tyson fight.

So, off screen the question is: is it now possible, given the latest safety advances created by auto-engineers and installed in new cars, for a car to actually be death-proof?

In real life, the key seems to be in accident avoidance and instead of 1970's muscle cars, these 'accident-aware' cars are looking more like the vehicles you see on the road everyday.

Volvo is a front runner in automotive accident prevention with its new 'City Safety' technolology. Designed to prevent or at least minimise collisions at speeds below 30km/h (which the company says accounts for some 75 per cent of all reported accidents), the technology works via an optical radar in the upper windshield that calculates the distance and speed of the car immediately ahead of you (and it does it 50 times per second), then engages the brakes accordingly if the system detects that a crash is imminent.

Toyota has also developed its own accident prevention gizmos, adding two safety technologies to luxury sedans in Japan and likely will use them next on Lexus models. One is a radar system that detects probable front and side collisions and warns the driver. The other is a rear seat that prepares passengers for accidents by automatically adjusting to a more impact-cushioning position avoiding whip-lash, or worse. In a most recent development, the redesigned 2010 Toyota Prius offers a radar system that adjusts vehicle speed, applies light braking if necessary and warns the driver to take evasive action if a crash is imminent. Clever stuff.

Mercedes on the other hand have concentrated on driver drowsiness, with a system called Attention Assist. This system monitors the driver's behavior to adapt itself to individual driver habits. When the car determines you are too tired to drive safely, the system announces it's time to take a break with an audible warning and a visual message that even includes a coffee-cup icon. Attention Assist will be standard equipment on the 2009 S-class and the new E-class.

Further, Mercedes also offers up "Pre-Safe"; safety features that activate before a crash, including seatbelt pretensioning, automatic closing of the windows and sunroof, and even inflating the seat bolsters and repositioning the seat to place an occupant in a more favorable position to deal with the impending impact.

From infrared sensors and cameras to detect obstacles ahead in the road, to blind spot detection and satellite navigational maps to detect hairy road conditions, auto safety engineers are working under the premise that if cars are making calculated decisions about an impending collision, accident rates will go down. By taking humans' emotional reactions (or lack thereof) out of the equation, engineers may in fact be closer to creating a death-proof car.