U.K. Researchers Develop Protocol for Rating Vehicle-Safety Systems

The U.K.’s Motor Insurance Repair Research Center says new safety systems being fitted to British cars have the potential to prevent thousands of pedestrian injuries and the loss of dozens of lives each year.

The “giant step forward” for pedestrian safety is the culmination of years of intensive research, the firm says.

Volvo’s pedestrian-detection system relies on radar and mounted cameras.

The Autonomous Emergency Braking systems under study incorporate a raft of cutting-edge initiatives using a variety of technologies to automatically stop a car before it strikes a pedestrian, including radar, camera and lasers.

Six safety systems have undergone testing at the center from auto makers as diverse as BMW, Ford, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo and Mercedes.

It is hoped the center’s AEB protocols now being developed will be considered in all future Euro NCAP testing procedures for new-car-safety ratings.

Test results show that once the protocols are incorporated in all production models, more than 650 serious injuries and 64 fatalities will be prevented in the U.K each year, the center says in a statement.

Some 92% of the 2,700 pedestrian collisions that occur annually happen at speeds of 30 mph (7.8 km/h) or less – within the performance limits of most new safety systems.

The research carried out at the center and at Loughborough University identifies for the first time the most common crash situations that have been used to define test procedures and allow the new safety systems to be rated.

Teams of researchers accompanied emergency services to record real-life data at the scene of hundreds of accidents across the country, the center says.

Some of the AEB systems also make an impact by preventing more than 160,000 painful and debilitating whiplash injuries to vehicle occupants caused each year by the most common crash: the rear-end collision.

More than 270,000 crashes either will be prevented or mitigated once the systems are ubiquitous across the fleet, the center says.

“These systems are set to make a massive impact on the number and severity of accidents on British roads and beyond,” Crash Research Manager Matthew Avery says.

“I believe that in time they will prove as, or more, effective than the arrival of ESC (electronic stability control) has been over the last decade or so.

“We are working alongside vehicle manufacturers to help develop them further, and would encourage the inclusion of such systems as standard fit in new cars.”