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AN_suppl_051031_13-15.qxd 19.10.2005 19:25 Uhr Page 13

Safety Adaptive provides precise patterns TIM MORAN AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

ver since were added Eto vehicles, it seems people have tried to find ways to make them swivel and focus to help drivers see their way. The problem with early attempts to “steer” headlights was the relatively low power of the beams, limitations of the sealed-beam designs that dominated the automotive sector from 1941 through 1983 and the difficulty of truly matching mechanical linkages to what the driver needed to see. Today, adaptive lighting offers a new start with a clean slate and effective technology. When the adaptive lighting system on the new Mercedes-Benz S class determines the driver is Choices, choices rounding a curve, it changes the angle of the headlight beam. Adaptive lighting systems divide into two broad categories. One uses additional bulbs housed my way in specially engineered reflectors Bright future transparent. By making one or within the headlight lens Primary suppliers of more thin sandwiched layers assembly to on extra adaptive lighting for dim mirrors react with the gel, a darker and lights. The other uses motors and ● darker filter can be placed over projector lenses to mechanically ● Denso he 2006 Citroen C6, the silvery reflective layer of pivot one or both . ● Hella TPSA/Peugeot-Citroen’s new the mirror. Think of an eyeball in a socket. ● Osram upper-medium , carries The mirrors use a The systems can work with ● Philips external and internal rear-view complementary metal oxide either halogen bulbs or xenon ● II Stanley mirrors from US supplier semiconductor chip to sense high-intensity discharge bulbs. ● Valeo Sylvania Gentex Corp. that both ambient light levels In either case, adaptive automatically dim when bright forward of the car and bright ● Visteon lighting relies on a complex headlights hit them. light sources coming from reflector – the silver sculpted Internal auto-dimming behind the car, and sensor shape behind the bulbs – to Light Control and is standard mirrors are standard on the circuitry to communicate with provide precise lighting on the 2006 330i. car, while external dimming a digital microprocessor that patterns. The need to change mirrors will be an option on all does not need signal amplifiers the beam pattern is analyzed by Sensing a turn but top-of-the-line trim or other conversion circuitry to a computer program that takes The A8 uses a fixed-bulb packages for the Citroen. do its job. Gentex calls the input from sensors including cornering system that is called It’s the first three-mirror solid-state device an Active speed, light level and steering Adaptive Light. The additional system to be supplied in Light Sensor. angle. When the adaptive bulb comes on when it senses France by the Zeeland, Gentex was the first lighting system determines the the driver making or signaling a Michigan, company. The company in the world to supply driver is rounding a curve, it turn at speeds up to 70kph. In outside dimming mirrors are automatic-dimming rear-view changes the headlight beam addition, the adaptive lights also available on the 2006 mirrors when its products angle to light the road surface come on to illuminate a tight Volkswagen Touareg and the came onto the market some farther along the curve. parking spot or driveway when Mercedes-Benz CLS class. 15 years ago. European are more the driver is backing the car. Gentex mirrors use Gentex dominates about likely than US cars to have Adaptive lighting has mostly proprietary electrochromic gel 80 percent of the market for motorized lighting, as European been limited to top-end luxury technology to dim automatic dimming mirrors; standards already demand cars with xenon projector bulb proportionally to the amount of competitor Magna Donnelly automatic-leveling headlamps. systems; the cost of motorized light detected. holds about 16 percent. Magna Mercedes-Benz offers active lighting could limit adoption in Donnelly refers to its lights with a cornering function. lower cost mass markets. Trade secret electrochromic mirror as solid The system uses a computer- Drivers need to experience While Gentex does not polymer matrix technology. controlled motor to move bi- adaptive lighting in order to discuss its trade secrets in According to press xenon headlights, in which a value it as a feature, but most detail, electrochromics typically materials, Gentex’s customers projector lens is used to give car sales do not include a night- use layers of polarizing material include Audi, Bentley, BMW, both low and high beams. time test drive. North American placed within a sandwich of Daimler-Chrysler, Fiat, BMW, meanwhile, adds inputs manufacturers, not required to glass plates. Ford, General Motors, from a lateral acceleration have self-leveling headlamps, Under normal Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, , sensor (to measure the severity are unlikely to spend extra for circumstances, the material , Mazda, Mitsubishi, of a turn’s G-force) and map motorized systems. Some remains clear, but when a mild Nissan, Opel, Renault- information from the onboard automakers may be waiting for electric current is passed Samsung, Rolls-Royce, navigation system to tailor its light-emitting diode front through it, the polarity is SsangYong, , similar active system. lighting before making expressed by making Volkswagen and . The system is called Adaptive significant lens changes. ANE translucent what was – Tim Moran

October 31, 2005 Automotive News Europe 13 ◆ AN_suppl_051031_13-15.qxd 19.10.2005 19:26 Uhr Page 14

Safety

TIRE-PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS

nderinflation can cause wear on , Uwhich can lead to poor fuel economy and, in worst cases, accidents. A - pressure monitoring system offers a way to increase tire safety and add value to the vehicle at a relatively small cost. Following the tire tread separation on Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone tires, American lawmakers mandated automakers include tire-pressure monitoring systems on vehicles sold in the US. Beginning September 1, 2007, all new four-wheel passenger vehicles must be equipped with a system that warns the driver when any one tire falls below 25 percent of its recommended inflation rate. There is no similar rule in Europe, but automakers in the region have adopted the technology for premium vehicles as well as for cars they sell in the US market. “We don’t expect TPMS to become mandatory any time soon in Europe. Nevertheless, the product is getting more and more important as a Third-generation tire-pressure monitoring systems also measure tire temperature. voluntary additional feature,” Beru spokeswoman Monika Schmierer said. WHERE TO FIND IT often. Some sensor suppliers are Millions of vehicles in both Europe and North developing battery-less technology that will HOW IT WORKS America already feature tire-pressure make tire-pressure monitoring systems An electronic sensor is attached to the monitoring systems. They are still mainly found smaller and lighter. inner end of the valve stem or mounted to in premium models, but in two years will be in all Sensors also can be damaged during tire the wheel. The sensor transmits a low- new cars sold in the US. repair or tire installation. power radio signal to a central control unit that sets off the warning light when the OBSTACLES PRIMARY SUPPLIERS pressure reading drops below a designated The environment inside the tire is harsh Beru, Michelin, Continental Teves, trigger point. Third-generation systems also on electronics. Johnson Controls, Schrader-Bridgeport, can measure tire temperature and register A lasting power source is needed and Pacific Industrial, TRW Automotive, IQ Mobil, that information for the driver as well as batteries are not the best solution because SmarTire, Rayovac and Fleet Specialties Co. provide a more accurate pressure reading. they need to be maintained and replaced – Alex Ricciuti

RUN-FLAT TIRES The tire-pressure monitor (lower left), he main safety feature of run- and the support ring, Tflat tires is that they are which is made of designed to prevent a driver polyurethane from losing control when a tire and rubber, loses pressure, especially at high add about 1kg speeds. Equally important is that to the weight a driver can continue traveling of the tire. on a punctured run- for up to 200km at a maximum speed of 80kph before repairing the tire. Another advantage of run-flat tires is that they also eliminate the need for a creating more space in the vehicle and reducing weight. Punctures don’t stop run-flat HOW IT WORKS tires like this one because the There are two types of run- WHERE TO FIND IT OBSTACLES support ring is strong enough flat tires: auxiliary support or The solution is still limited Costs, weight and ride quality to support the car’s weight. self-support. Auxiliary support to premium brands with are the main issues. Run-flat tires have a structure inside the notable exceptions being the tires are more expensive than European countries require tire that can support the weight Honda Odyssey and the Toyota regular tires, especially when cars to carry a spare tire of the car when the tire deflates. Sienna in the US. Nearly all combined with tire-pressure regardless of run-flat Self-supporting tires have highly BMW models, including the monitoring systems, because of technology which eliminates reinforced sidewalls that can Mini Cooper, are equipped with the added maintenance costs. any potential space advantage. support the weight of the run-flats. The tires are The added weight inside each vehicle. Both systems make available in the , A6 tire, about a kilogram, creates a PRIMARY SUPPLIERS sure a vehicle maintains and A8 ranges. higher rolling resistance which Most tire makers including stability and the wheel does not Mercedes-Benz offers it on lowers fuel economy. Run flats Michelin, Continental, BF touch the road even if there is a the S class and the SLK class. also have a reduced ability to Goodrich, Bridgestone, Dunlop, total loss of tire pressure. The Cadillac and Lexus also absorb bumps, making the ride Pirelli and Yokohama. offer the solution. more harsh. Also, some – Alex Ricciuti ◆ 14 Automotive News Europe October 31, 2005 AN_suppl_051031_13-15.qxd 19.10.2005 19:26 Uhr Page 15

Safety

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

utomakers face increasing legislative Ademands to make cars less dangerous in the event of a collision with a person. Pedestrian fatalities make up nearly a third of the 40,000 annual car-related deaths in Europe. About 5,000 pedestrians are killed on US roads each year. That represents about 12 percent of the total annual highway death toll of 42,000 in the US. Most of these deaths, estimated at 80 percent, are caused by head injuries resulting from a collision with the car , A- or . Starting this month new types of cars sold in the European Union must meet more demanding pedestrian safety rules. By 2012, this requirement will be expanded to all new cars.

HOW IT WORKS Car designers are taking three major paths to meet the EU regulations. Mercedes made numerous changes to the front of the new S class to make it more 1. Creating more space between the front pedestrian friendly. grill and the so-called hard points such as the engine and radiator to passively absorb Europe in March 2006, will have the Autoliv complexity into cars, which adds cost and kinetic energy from a collision. pop-up hood. The Honda Legend also will increases the risk of software-related 2. Redesigning the car’s hood to make it a have a pop-up hood in European markets. problems. better energy absorber and fitting it with Raising the hood away from the engine Changing the front ends of cars forces active safety systems such as a pop-up results in a 30 percent reduction in head designers to overcome engineering mechanism and airbags to deflect the injuries. “You have a maximum of 60 challenges while making sure their cars pedestrian’s head away from the milliseconds to cover all sizes of people,” still looks good. windshield and A-pillars. Honda Europe spokesman Thomas 3. Equipping the car with active safety Brachmann said. The engine in the new PRIMARY SUPPLIERS systems such as and active Mercedes-Benz S class has been lowered The main suppliers are Autoliv, TRW braking systems to prevent any impact 13mm to provide more crash-absorbing Automotive, Denso, Robert Bosch, from ever taking place. crush space. Siemens VDO Automotive, Valeo and HBPO, the venture between supplier Hella, WHERE TO FIND IT OBSTACLES Behr and Plastic Omnium The Jaguar XK, scheduled for launch in Active systems put additional electronic – Lyle Frink

NIGHT VISION ahead of the car and projects the image onto the lower left MW and Mercedes-Benz portion of the windshield. Beach will offer night vision on Toyota’s Night View system, upcoming vehicle programs for available on the Lexus LX470 in the US and Europe. The the US and other models in technology debuted in the US Japan, uses so-called near- five years ago. Demand for a infrared technology to Raytheon-built system was illuminate everything in front of brisk when General Motors the vehicle up to about introduced it on the 2000 150 meters. Two lamps in the Cadillac DeVille. But sales project light beams that slowed, and GM dropped the reflect off objects in the factory-installed option after the vehicle’s path, bouncing back to 2005 model year. With the a camera mounted inside the feature gone from the DeVille, top of the windshield. A Toyota became the only computer processes the carmaker offering a night vision reflected images and projects a system in the US. black-and- image onto a section of the windshield. HOW IT WORKS Mercedes says the night OBSTACLES vision system on its new S class Like many other new can extend a driver’s visibility technologies, cost is a big factor. about 150 meters. The system Siemens VDO’s Night Vision, which is integrated in the head-up And there are limitations. For bathes the road with infrared display, could make in the dark more comfortable by example, Honda’s system will light from two projectors helping drivers identify potential hazards earlier. not function if the temperature mounted in the headlight rises above 30 Celsius. assemblies. An infrared camera BMW says the night vision of the instrument panel. in the windshield receives the system on its 2006 7 series is Honda offers what it calls PRIMARY SUPPLIERS reflected infrared light and effective up to 300 meters. It, Intelligent Night Vision on the Autoliv, L-3 Communications, shows it as a black-and-white too, uses an infrared camera. Honda Legend in Japan. A Raytheon, Siemens VDO image on a screen on the The image is displayed on the camera detects heat-emitting Automotive. instrument panel. iDrive monitor on the top center objects as far as 460 meters – Chaz Osburn

October 31, 2005 Automotive News Europe 15 ◆ AN_suppl_051031_18-20.qxd 19.10.2005 19:27 Uhr Page 18

Safety

LANE DEPARTURE Ford Motor Co. and WARNING DaimlerChrysler also have been testing lane departure warning systems. ane-departure warning Lsystems are being OBSTACLES developed to help distracted or Challenges include stopping drowsy motorists avoid an false alarms and getting the accident. Almost 2 million system to work properly accidents a year are attributed during some types of bad to drivers inadvertently weather and on roads that are changing lanes. not well marked. Another drawback is price – more than HOW IT WORKS E1,000 in many cases. Lane-departure warning systems use sensors, such as PRIMARY SUPPLIERS cameras or near-range radar, Valeo has been fastest to to monitor the lane. The Many lane-departure warning systems use a camera mounted market: its systems are on systems determine the on the windshield to monitor lane markers on roadways. Stray Citroens and it supplies a direction and position of the over a line and the system will be activated. separate system to Nissan vehicle in relation to lane that was developed by Iteris. markers. When the technology Aisin Seiki’s lane departure recognizes that a lane future, the system could be solution include the FX45 and warning system can be found departure is imminent it sends extended to help a driver M45 from Infiniti, Nissan’s on Toyota models. a signal to the driver. Some change lanes and avoid luxury division. Toyota is Continental, Delphi, Denso, systems make a noise, others collisions with vehicles in a equipping some of its models Hella, Robert Bosch, Siemens cause a vibration of the driver’s blind spot. in Japan. General Motors VDO Automotive and Visteon or the driver’s featured the technology on the all aim to have their systems seat. Advanced systems can WHERE TO FIND IT Cadillac STS SAE 100 concept in production models before automatically steer the vehicle In Europe on the Citroen C4, it showed in April at the SAE the end of the decade. back into the lane. In the C5 and C6. US models with the World Congress in Detroit. – Chris Wright

ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

daptive cruise control lets Athe car maintain a driver- selected speed while automatically adjusting to changing . Second- generation systems work in stop-and-go situations, an improvement over the first generation, which would not function at speeds below 30kph.

HOW IT WORKS Adaptive cruise control systems use radar, or an infrared detector beam or lidar, a light- based system. If the system senses a slower moving vehicle ahead, it automatically reduces speed to avoid getting too close. Second-generation systems such as Robert Bosch’s ACCplus can bring a car to a complete stop, if necessary. Once the target moves out of the lane, the device automatically returns to the pre- set speed. Cars equipped with adaptive cruise control automatically slow when another car gets too close. WHERE TO FIND IT When the object gets out of the way, the car returns to a driver-set speed. The models that feature adaptive cruise control include: the BMW 3, 5 and 7 series, Volkswagen Passat. Delphi, especially the newest variants, minor collisions. Some systems Mercedes-Benz S class, Siemens VDO Automotive and which combine adaptive cruise can be deceived by sharp Volkswagen Phaeton, Audi A8 Continental will feature their control with other driver-assist curves and in rain or . and Q7, Cadillac XLR and latest solutions on as-yet- functions such as collision Jaguar XKR. In the US, Toyota unnamed 2006 models. warning, night vision and blind- PRIMARY SUPPLIERS offers the system on the Sienna spot detection. Sensors behind Bosch, Continental, Delphi, XLE minivan. TRW Automotive OBSTACLES the front are exposed to Motorola, Siemens VDO, TRW Inc.’s second-generation system The systems to support the the elements and can be Automotive, Visteon. is an option on the 2006 model controls are expensive, damaged or misaligned in – Ian Morton ◆ 18 Automotive News Europe October 31, 2005