Emergency Steer Assist next new thing in driver safety

Emergency Steer Assist next new thing in driver safety

Dealership technicians will have yet another space-age system to diagnose in the years ahead as the auto industry continues to pursue technologies that make driving safer. Continental, the international automotive supplier, is pursuing an entirely new approach to accident-prevention driver assistance systems. It is called Emergency Steer Assist, and it kicks in when a vehicle has gone beyond the last possible point where braking would have an effect, but it is still possible to avoid an accident through steering or by taking evasive action.

The system incorporates existing technology like radar, used in Adaptive Cruise Control and video cameras used for intelligent headlamp Control, to determine (in real time) where the vehicle is on the road relative to all other moveable and immovable objects and thereby all avoidance options available.

The decision as to whether to brake before reaching an obstacle or to steer past always remains with the driver, but the assistance system will warn the driver when he is about to come across a dangerous situation. If the driver decides to take evasive action, the system calculates in milliseconds what line the optimum evasive maneuver could follow and assists him by applying a light force in the steering wheel.

Continental says all the systems necessary to make Emergency Steer Assist a reality are already installed in many production vehicles. More than 80 percent of all new vehicles registered in Germany are now equipped with Electronic Stability Control (ESC), a critical component of the Emergency Steering Assist System, and this will be mandatory for all new models introduced in 2011 and for all vehicles beginning 2015. In the U.S., ESC in all cars, SUVs, pickups, and minivans will be required by the 2012 model year.