Mazda fails crash test demonstration: Japanese car maker suspends trials of automatic braking after potential customer injured in Japan.

Mazda's Smart City Brake Support system uses infrared and radar signals to automatically brake and avoid rear-end collisions at speeds under 30km/h.

by Andrew MacLean of www.drive.com.au

MAZDA has suspended public demonstrations of a high-tech safety feature following an accident in Japan where the occupants were injured.

The Japanese car maker issued a notification to cease customer test drives of vehicles fitted with its Smart City Brake Support system – which uses infrared and radar signals to automatically brake and avoid rear-end collisions at speeds under 30km/h – after a failure during a test drive of a CX-5 at a dealership in northern Tokyo.

The failure resulted in the vehicle colliding with a fence, injuring both passengers. Mazda has confirmed the potential customer suffered whiplash and the salesman has a broken arm. It is also actively working with the police as it investigates the cause of the accident.

Mazda's Smart City Brake Support system uses infrared and radar signals to automatically brake and avoid rear-end collisions at speeds under 30km/h.

As a consequence, Mazda has “decided to voluntarily suspend all such test drives until the cause of the accident has been established and countermeasures taken”.

It says it has provided its dealerships with clear guidelines on how to perform these demonstrations with a strict set of conditions that define elements such as the size, type and distance of the obstacle, the surrounding environment, vehicle speed and monitoring the actions of the driver.

“The circumstances and causes of this accident, including whether or not the demonstration test drive event… followed Mazda’s guidelines, will be revealed by the ongoing police investigation,” Mazda stated.

It claims this is the first reported instance of such a failure and that it has no reports of similar circumstances occurring on public roads.

Mazda Australia spokesman, Steve Maciver, told Drive that all local dealerships have been alerted to the issue, even though they are advised not to actively demonstrate the technology which has just been added to the popular compact SUV. Mazda's CX-5 has sold more than 16,000 units so far in 2013.

“This does not apply to Australia as we have not been participating in live demonstrations of the Smart City Brake Support system through our dealerships,” he said.

“We have obviously advised them of the situation and we are waiting on the outcome of the investigation, which will determine the circumstances under which this incident occurred, before offering any further correspondence.

“We are confident in the system and how it works, and watching carefully as to what happens from the investigation.

It is the not the first time an autonomous driving system, designed to override the driver, has failed in such a high-profile manner. A Volvo V60 SUV failed three from 12 tests while demonstrating its pedestrian avoidance technology at a media event in Sweden in 2010.

Source;
http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/mazda-fails-crash-test-demonstration-20131113-2xga3.html