High-tech devices alert drivers to avoid accidents, other danger

The new system will brake a car before a crash.
DETROIT (AP) -- A small camera atop the rearview mirror zeroes in on the car ahead and the video appears on a monitor embedded in the dashboard, where you might expect to find a radio.
As you get closer, a green box on the monitor envelopes the other vehicle, in this case a Ford Mustang. Get even closer -- too close for safety -- and the box around the Mustang turns to red.
If this were a fighter jet, the pilot might depress the trigger.
But this is a Ford Explorer concept vehicle, sensing a crash may be imminent. So the seat belts tighten automatically and a computerized voice beckons, "Warning."
Hopefully, the driver will brake quickly enough to avoid an accident.
That's the goal of the automakers, suppliers and government agencies that are spending billions to develop high-tech devices that make vehicles "smarter" -- alerting motorists if they're approaching other vehicles or curves too quickly or drifting off the road.
In some cases, a radar-induced crash-avoidance system would take control of the vehicle's braking, slowing it automatically. In others, "smart" intersections, which also are in the works, would alert an approaching car to impending danger.
Those working with the technology say its use in vehicles in North America is still at least a few years away. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., however, have begun offering crash-warning devices in a limited number of vehicles in Japan.
Still in the works
"One of the things we're trying to determine is what's the right way to bring this information to the driver," said Ron Miller, a technology project leader at Ford Motor Co. "At this point, there doesn't seem to be a definitive way to do that."
Miller and other Ford engineers have equipped a single 2002 Explorer with no less than six telematics and accident-avoidance systems. The concept SUV has cameras that give drivers a clear view around large vehicles in front and monitors that provide tire pressure and temperature.
The ultimate goal is to reduce fatal crashes, which have risen in the United States each year since 1998 and totaled more than 42,000 in 2001, according to the Department of Transportation. About 41 percent occurred when vehicles left the road.
No government mandate
President Bush wants to spend $1.7 billion over the next six years on intelligent transportation systems, 20 percent more than in the past six. But National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesman Rae Tyson said talk of a government mandate on crash-avoidance systems is premature.
"We need to see if the technology can be perfected so it would be a benefit to motorists," Tyson said.
A key consideration for automakers is whether to install crash-avoidance equipment so it works automatically, without prompting from the driver, or whether to make it active only after engaged by the driver.
Honda has chosen the first option, Toyota the second.
In Honda's "collision mitigation brake system," radar in the front of the car detects vehicles within 300 feet. If the driver is approaching too quickly, the system initially pulls on the seat belt and brakes slightly. A buzzer goes off and a small light flashes on the dashboard.
If the driver steps on the brakes, another system kicks in to strengthen their power. If the driver fails to respond, the car brakes more and tightens the seat belt further to soften the blow of the crash. The system is not designed to stop the car completely.
To avoid sudden, automatic braking in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the vehicle must be traveling at least 10 mph for the brakes to engage. The system also is designed to remain inactive when traffic is flowing at roughly the same speed.
Toyota's crash-warning system, which brakes and tightens the seat belt ahead of a crash, does not activate until the driver steps on the brakes.