Collision repairers can rest easy: An advanced effort to place development of vehicle crash avoidance technology on the fast track toward mass implementation is not likely to put body shops out of business.
To the contrary, the electronic enhancements being pursued — while still a ways off from mainstream production — could accrue some noteworthy benefits for not only the motoring public and the overall North American automotive industry, but the collision repair segment may also gain.
“There are a finite number of crashes that these types of systems could avoid on an annual basis,” says Dan Risley, executive director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS). “It isn’t a reach to think that there will be fewer repairs, but the impact may not be as significant as some might expect.
“Furthermore, with the increased use of technology comes the increased cost to repair the vehicle,” he says. “Perhaps repairers will mitigate some of the loss in the number of claims with the increased revenue and profit stemming from the increased cost to repair the repairable vehicles.”
An ongoing crash avoidance technology initiative is intent on devising reliable real-world systems to warn drivers when they are about to leave the roadway, are in danger of colliding with another vehicle while attempting a lane change, or are at risk of colliding with the vehicle ahead. Such technology would use information gathered by inertial, video and radar sensors, plus a global positioning system, to alert motorists of potentially dangerous situations to prevent or at least lessen the impact of crashes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration are conducting the endeavor, funded as part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration’s (RITA) Intelligent Transportation Systems Technology program.
Known as the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety System (IVBSS), program participants are developing and testing a prototype integrated crash-warning system. The partnership includes the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), Visteon Corp., Eaton Corp., Honda R & D Americas Inc., Cognex Corp., International Truck and Engine Corp., Con-way Freight, the Battelle Memorial Institute and the Michigan Department of Transportation.
IVBSS is a $32.3-million program with $25.2 million in federal funding and a $7.1 million contribution from among the partners. The program is divided into two phases. Recently completed Phase I involved IVBSS design and development. Passenger car and heavy truck prototypes were completed and tested, verification testing was performed, and the driver-vehicle interface designs completed.
The newly approved Phase II will include a field operational test of the integrated systems in both cars and commercial trucks.
A fleet of 16 IVBSS-equipped passenger cars will be tested with more than 100 participants over a year-long period. On the over-the-road 18-wheeler side, Con-way Freight will add 10 IVBSS trucks to its fleet for 10 months to gauge how the technology performs.
The RITA Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, acting as an independent judge, will objectively evaluate IVBSS system benefits and driver acceptance.
The system is designed to help address the types of wrecks that account for 67 percent of all crashes in the United States. About 3.6 million rear-end, road departure, or lane change crashes occur each year — and 27,500 of these result in at least one death. If the program is ultimately successful, IVBSS researchers believe that the three crash categories being targeted can be reduced by 48 percent.
The partnership is developing the IVBSS initiative under current consideration by seamlessly combining several technologies to provide drivers with the essential information at precisely the moment they need such automatic assistance, according to UMTRI researcher Jim Sayer, who serves as the project director. He says the program is effectively moving ahead “to develop truly innovative and effective technologies to help resolve the crash problem we face in the United States and abroad.”
“These types of programs will have a direct and indirect impact on the auto industry regardless of their success,” says Risley at SCRS. “They are enabling change to improve vehicle safety. In other words, even if their efforts don’t make a substantive difference, the knowledge gained for their efforts would certainly advance the industry in the future.”
The Phase 1 IVBSS report is available online at www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
About the Author
James Guyette
James E. Guyette is a long-time contributing editor to Aftermarket Business World, ABRN and Motor Age magazines.