Mercedes-Benz is reinforcing the trend of active safety systems increasingly becoming available in lower segment mass market cars. The new A-Class and B-Class models due to be launched later this year will be available with collision warning and adaptive brake assist systems.
Mercedes says that the radar-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) will prevent approximately 20% of rear-end collisions and mitigate the effects of a further 25% of accidents. Tests based on driving simulators have seen the accident rate fall from 44% to 11% in the same scenarios for cars equipped with a combination of collision warning and adaptive brake assist.
The Mercedes system assesses the distance to the vehicle ahead in the speed range of 30-250 km/h. If the gap closes and becomes inadequate for safe driving, the system gives the driver a visual and acoustic warning. The brake assist system prepares the braking system so that when the driver presses the pedal in an emergency maximum braking is achieved.
The movement of ADAS from luxury high-cost vehicles to the mass market is leading to increased exposure of consumers to these active safety technologies. SBD has recently completed an ADAS end user survey of drivers in Germany and the USA that use a car fitted with ADAS. This survey found that drivers are generally very positive to the experience of owning ADAS-equipped cars and are likely to order systems with their next car. The survey also found that drivers in Germany support the concept of legislation mandating standard fitment of ADAS in new cars.
Importance of ADAS features before buying their current car
According to further research into the market trends for ADAS systems, SBD found that there is a convergence of factors that are encouraging uptake of ADAS. These factors include the addition of ADAS to new car safety star ratings, insurance discounts for ADAS-equipped cars and the emergence of government legislation mandating specific ADAS systems.
In addition to the ADAS end user survey and market trends report, SBD’s suite of ADAS products released includes an ADAS Database providing fitment and feature information for all systems available in Europe and the USA. For more information, please contact jappleby@sbd.co.uk