Those car technology configurations that can save lives at critical moments

According to incomplete statistics, there were 60,000 accidents of all kinds in 2016, killing 41,000 people. There were 750 major accidents, killing 2,877 people. So, when facing the potential danger of a car accident, what technological configurations in the car can save lives at the critical moment? Let's take a look together.

The brake override system is a system that allows the driver to stop the car by pressing the brake pedal even when the accelerator pedal is pressed and the throttle is fully open. The brake override system can shorten the braking distance and is particularly effective when the throttle fails.

When the brake priority system detects that the driver's attempt to brake is unsuccessful, it will automatically switch the engine to idle state. In this way, even if the throttle fails, the BOS brake priority system can cut off the throttle signal through the brake signal at the above critical moment, safely reduce the speed of the vehicle, and ensure the safety of the passengers. Prevent the situation where the car runs faster and faster and completely loses control. Compared with vehicles without this system, vehicles with a brake priority system will also have a significantly shorter braking distance, so the safety performance of the vehicle is greatly improved. Of course, when the clutch is pressed on a manual transmission model, the power system is disconnected, so there is no BOS.

If you encounter an obstacle on the highway and make an emergency turn to avoid it, the vehicle may easily slip out of control and cause a traffic accident. The ESP system will automatically control the brakes of one or two diagonal wheels when the vehicle skids, understeers, or oversteers, correcting the vehicle's posture and reducing the probability of losing control. Since November 2014, all new cars sold in the EU must be equipped with an electronic stability system. According to a survey, in just one year, 30,000 traffic accidents were prevented, and at that time only about 40% of cars used ESP.

Since 2010, all new cars sold in the United States must be equipped with ESP (including ABS and ASR), otherwise they cannot be sold. In the European Union, starting from November 1, 2014, all new cars sold within the range must be equipped with an electronic stability program (ESP) as standard.

The system that monitors and displays tire pressure and temperature can tell you in real time whether the current tire is normal. If a tire is slowly losing air, once the pressure drops below 2.0 and wears to the side of the tire, it is easy to burst, and the consequences are disastrous. Therefore, the tire pressure monitoring system can also save lives at critical moments.

In my country, tire pressure monitoring often requires additional installation, while the United States and the European Union required that all passenger cars must be equipped with TPMS tire pressure monitoring devices in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

When the driver accidentally leaves the original lane, the system will sound an alarm 0.5 seconds before leaving the lane, or remind the owner by vibrating the steering wheel.

When driving, the rearview mirror alone often fails to see vehicles in some blind spots on the left and right. The driver needs to turn his head to look back to ensure safety, which can easily cause collision risks. In order to eliminate visual blind spots, car companies have designed blind spot display systems to overcome the above hidden dangers. The working principle of the blind spot monitoring system is: with the help of radar, cameras and other devices, the blind spots on both sides of the vehicle body are detected when the vehicle is driving. If other vehicles enter the blind spot, the driver will be prompted in the rearview mirror or other designated locations, thereby reducing traffic accidents caused by merging lanes.

The brake assist system includes the electronic brake assist system "EBA" and the brake force assist system "BA" (also called "BAS"), which can judge the driver's braking action (force and speed) to increase the braking force during emergency braking, thereby shortening the braking distance. For drivers such as the elderly or women who do not have sufficient ankle and leg strength, the advantages of this system will be more obvious. The mechanical brake assist system "BA" is actually the predecessor of the electronic emergency brake assist system "EBA".

According to the new regulations announced by the European Union in 2014, all new cars must be equipped with this system. It is understood that cars without this system will not receive the E-NCAP five-star safety certification. In China, this system is usually found in high-end models.

A few years ago, the US Department of Transportation conducted a survey and found that an average of 210 people died in reversing accidents each year in the United States, and about 15,000 people were injured. Among those who died in reversing accidents, 31% were children under the age of 5, and 26% were elderly people over 70 years old.

Many people don't take this configuration seriously, and often think that their reversing skills are good, so they simply ignore it. However, this configuration must not be ignored.

After May 1, 2018, all vehicles sold in the United States must be equipped with reversing cameras to improve reversing safety.

The appearance of daytime running lights is not for the sake of being cool, but to improve the recognition of daytime running cars and improve driving safety. Since August 2012, the EU has required all models to be equipped with daytime running lights. That is, users do not need to operate the lights themselves during the day, they will light up when they are turned on, so 100% of the new cars imported from Europe that we see now are equipped with daytime running lights. Japanese, Korean, American and many joint venture models are also standard, but not every car in China has them.

In fact, as early as nearly 10 years ago, the European Union had ambitiously formulated a plan, hoping that all light vehicles sold in EU countries would be equipped with eCall systems in 2009 (in 2011, the EU passed a resolution to make it mandatory) to minimize casualties caused by slow rescue in road traffic accidents.

All new cars (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles) sold in the EU market must be equipped with the eCall system before March 31, 2018. In the next three years, the European Commission will also evaluate the possibility of extending eCall to automotive vehicles, such as buses, coaches and coaches.

Front side airbags are usually installed on the outside of the front seats to reduce the damage caused by side impacts and isolate the direct collision between the torso and the door panels. They can effectively protect the safety of front passengers. At present, only some mid-to-high-end or high-end models in China are equipped with front side airbags, and ordinary low-end family cars do not have side airbags at all.

Starting in 2013, all vehicles sold in the United States are required to be equipped with side airbags.

The vehicle's front collision avoidance system can be simply understood as a collision warning and automatic braking system. That is, when the vehicle detects an obstacle ahead, it can warn the driver in advance, or help the driver brake or even stop the vehicle at the same time to minimize the possibility of a collision between the vehicle and the vehicle in front.

In 2013, the US authoritative automobile safety performance testing organization IIHS added a new active safety performance test rating, which is the vehicle's front collision avoidance system. Currently, this configuration has different names in different car companies, such as Volvo Citysafety, Mercedes-Benz pre-safe, Toyota PCS, and Volkswagen Front Assist.

ACC has become the most popular car configuration nowadays. Its function is to control the brakes, ABS and wheels when the distance to the car in front is too small, so that when the car is about to hit the obstacle in front, it can help people who are slow to react to stop the car and free their feet.

As early as 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a law that all new cars released in 2019 must be equipped with reversing cameras as standard. The tall body brings many blind spots, among which children under 5 years old account for 31% of the deaths, and the elderly over 70 years old account for 26%. The Safety Administration estimates that if all cars on sale are equipped with reversing cameras, the number of deaths each year can be reduced by 58 to 69.

Traffic accidents involving wild animals have always been a major problem in international transportation. It is reported that Canada has 40,000 such accidents that cause vehicle damage every year; in 2012, Sweden had 49,000 vehicle-animal collisions, of which 6,000 were vehicle-moose collisions. For this reason, car companies have specially developed an animal detection system that can detect animals and automatically brake at any time of day or night.