Nødbremsassistanse bør bli standardutstyr i mindre biler

Hanover, December 2011 – Safety for all: The City emergency brake assist is set to become standard equipment in small cars, too. The international automotive supplier Continental views this is as a top objective. The assist recognizes critical situations early on and intervenes with optimal braking. This proves an extremely important driver assistance system in urban areas in particular, where three quarters of all registered accidents occur. Not keeping a safe distance from the vehicle up ahead, distractions and a lack of driver concentration in city traffic are the most common causes. Every year, the German police register approximately 200,000 such crashes with other vehicles in cities and towns. Around one quarter of these are rear-end collisions – often with drivers not having braked at all. The number of unreported cases is somewhat higher, as the police do not generally keep a record of minor damage. These accidents may, however, result in injuries and more major damage to the vehicles, leading to high repair costs.

The system is simple. The anticipatory emergency brake assist for urban areas – Emergency Brake Assist City (EBA-City) – uses an optical sensor with infrared beams to monitor the road ahead for a distance of up to around ten meters. The electronics calculate the distance to the car in front. If this distance decreases so rapidly that a rear-end collision seems likely, the system intervenes by alerting the braking system. If the driver does not immediately let up on the gas pedal and apply sufficient braking force, the emergency brake assist helps by reducing the braking system’s response time or automatically initiating emergency braking if the driver does not brake at all.

At low speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour, rear-end collisions can be prevented in most situations. At higher speeds, automatic emergency braking dramatically reduces the impact, helping to protect passengers in the car in front as well.

“Unlike humans, the automatic emergency brake assist is always on the alert and cannot be distracted. Up to 28% of rear-end collisions can be prevented or their consequences mitigated,” explains Welf Stankowitz, head of the Vehicle Technology division at the German Road Safety Council. “After seat belts, we consider the emergency brake assist the most important method of protecting people inside and outside the vehicle. In this way, we are coming even closer to achieving Vision Zero in urban traffic.” The German Insurance Association (GDV) also supports use of this technology: Rear-end warning and emergency brake systems are driver assist systems that provide the greatest potential for preventing accidents. And this is why, from an accident research perspective, it make sense to quickly implement these systems in all vehicle classes. The first small cars to feature the emergency brake assistant from Continental are already available and more are sure to follow.

Nicole Geissler
External Communications
Continental
Division Chassis & Safety
Guerickestraße 7
60488 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Phone: +49 69 7603-6000
Fax: +49 69 7603-3945
E-Mail: nicole.geissler@continental-corporation.com