by Chris Woodyard of www.usatoday.com
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — In a class of family vehicles where safety
can be a big selling point, Honda is betting on high tech to avoid
wrecks in its 2015 CR-V.
The 2015 CR-V will be the first vehicle
in Honda's lineup to get what the automaker has named Honda Sensing, a
bundle of six technologies that the brand hopes will put it a step ahead
of the razor-sharp competition in the compact crossover segment.
Three
of them are becoming more common on vehicles. Adaptive cruise control
keeps an even distance from the vehicle in front no matter whether it
speeds up or slows down. Lane departure warnings sound when a car
wanders out of its lane. And forward collision warning rouses an
inattentive driver if there is a danger of crashing.
To those, Honda has added three new features that aren't usually found in mainstream car brands:
• LaneWatch.
Found in the Accord sedan and other Honda vehicles, it puts a live
video stream of the car's blind spot on the right side on the video
screen. Drivers don't need just to depend on the right side mirror and a
glance over the shoulder to make a lane change.
• Lane Keeping Assist System.
LKAS for short, the system steers the car back into the lane when it
starts to wander out. It is aimed at making driving easier on highways.
While it's a step on the road to a driverless car, it's a baby step — it
only works for about 15 seconds before a driver needs to turn the wheel
a bit just to let the system know the car is still being piloted.
• Collision Mitigation Braking System. If drivers don't perk up and throw on the brakes if a car or person is detected in their path, the car will do it for them.
The
Honda Sensing package will be found only on the new, most expensive
trim level of the CR-V, called the Touring model. But the features are
sure to creep into other models and lower trim levels.
That's
because Honda says it has set a goal of halving fatalities in its
vehicles by 2020, going fatality-free by 2030 and eliminating collisions
entirely by 2040.
While the CR-V will be aimed primarily at women
and young families — groups that traditionally have listed vehicle
safety as a high priority — Honda officials say safety is not the top
reason for buying a CR-V. Rather, it's the whole package.
"They buy it No. 1 for value," says Jeff Conrad, senior vice president in charge of the Honda division in the USA.
Source (with a alternate video);
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/09/30/honda-safety-cr-v/16466675/
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