Article 1: HIGH-TECH AUTO SAFETY EXHIBITED
By Jewel Gopwani
source: http://www.ahboan.com/english/news/newscontent.asp?id=306
It's just past midnight. Highway traffic is sparse and you're on the road, drowsy from a long day.
Your eyelids start to droop and instead of closing for a blink they shut for almost a full second and drift open.
Zip. Your seat belt tightens against your chest. Thump, thump, thump. It taps on your left shoulder with a wake-up call.
The technology is what the auto industry calls an active safety system, which aims to prevent accidents using sensors, cameras, alerts and in some cases brakes and steering to avoid a collision.
Troy-based Delphi Corp. demonstrated the seat belt technology, fitted in a Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle, during Convergence 2004, an industry conference at Detroit's Cobo Center for automotive electronics.
While safety was the main draw at the three-day conference, which wraps up today, it also featured the latest in audio technology and computerized braking and steering.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said upcoming safety technology could decrease the number of crashes caused by driver distraction, lane changes and rear-end accidents by 1 million annually.
"The hope is that the occupant will pay attention and take heed," said Joseph Kanianthra, NHTSA's associate administrator for vehicle safety research.
In addition to seat belts and air bags to prevent injuries in a crash, some cars already use adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts a car's speed to maintain its distance from the vehicle in front of it.
They are also using stability control systems, which sense when a vehicle is veering off the road and applies brakes to counter it. The technology is already prevalent in Europe and is becoming more common in the United States. A NHTSA study released last month said a stability control system could prevent rollover accidents.
"That's the sort of technology I see doubling every year," said Philip Headley, chief engineer for advanced technologies at Auburn Hills-based Continental Automotive Systems, which makes stability systems.
But technology that drivers can see will be slower to come, such as a camera in the rear bumper with a dash-mounted screen that shows what's behind the car.
For Ford Motor Co., that technology is at least three years away, said Ron Miller, technical leader at Ford's research and advanced engineering in Dearborn.
That is also the timeline for technology that detects drowsiness with a camera in the instrument panel. When the driver's eyes look away from the road or close for too long, it sends an alert, like the seat belt tap.
Delphi is talking to trucking companies about the technology and expects to see it in commercial trucks next year and available to the general public by 2008.
While automakers are interested, there are a few issues keeping the technology from catching on quickly.
Automakers want to standardize the warnings before the technology becomes more common, Miller said. That will mean the seat belt shoulder tap used to wake a driver up in a Ford Escape is the same alert used in a Chevrolet Malibu.
Automakers also need to be sure it works right.
"It must warn only in the appropriate cases and not false alarms," Kanianthra said. "If this doesn't work exactly the way it's supposed to, somebody could argue that it is what caused (a) crash rather than prevented it."
Some drivers aren't convinced that all of the new features will help.
"It's another thing to keep your mind on," said Marie Davis, 35, of Canton, about the alerts.
Also at Convergence:
source: http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/24794/us_keeping_crash_data_secret_officials_backtrack_on_safety_disclosure_amid_suit_by_tire_makers.aspx
Federal auto safety officials are backtracking on a pledge to give consumers access to detailed data on which cars and trucks may be linked to deaths, injuries and property damage. The reason: Tire makers have sued to prevent its release.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it will hold off indefinitely on releasing the information while the lawsuit by the country's largest tire makers is argued and decided, which could take months, if not years. Consumer advocates have been clamoring for the release of such data since the 2000 Ford-Firestone rollover debacle.
Auto experts say these data on vehicle deaths, injuries, property damage and what specific parts may have caused the problem would be of great interest to car and truck shoppers, who often make their buying decisions based on a vehicle's safety records and reliability.
"If you own a car or truck and have a problem with it, or are shopping for a new car or truck, you'd want to see if there were a number of deaths or injuries with that vehicle. It's really disheartening to see NHTSA opting for secrecy in the area of vehicle safety," said Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel for Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine.
Until last week, the government said it had made or would make available to the public the new vehicle safety data, including details on the make, model and year of a vehicle in which someone died or was injured, and what vehicle part or system may have caused the accident.
But following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Free Press, NHTSA last week acknowledged this information was not available -- as it had said earlier. It also acknowledged it would not be made public until it deals with the lawsuit filed in June by the Rubber Manufacturers Association, a group that represents tire makers such as Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental.
"We had intended to make all of that information public, the claims data on deaths and property damage, but then we got sued. Because of the lawsuits filed against us, we're holding off on disclosing any further information until we see the outcome of this," said Rae Tyson, NHTSA spokesman. "We're waiting until we get further guidance from the courts."
Consumer-interest groups and vehicle-safety advocates, many of whom already felt like NHTSA was withholding too much vehicle safety data, were outraged at NHTSA's reversal.
"I think the more the government decides to keep data under lock and key, the more they put the public at risk," said Greenberg. "The whole idea should be to provide the public with advanced warning about vehicle hazards, which is exactly what didn't happen in the Ford-Firestone situation."
NHTSA began receiving this new early-warning vehicle-safety data in December 2003 as part of the TREAD Act, a much-publicized law passed in 2000 in response to the rollovers of Ford Motor Co. Explorers equipped with certain Firestone tires. U.S. officials have linked 271 deaths to wrecks involving tread separation of Bridgestone Corp.'s Firestone tires. Most were on Explorers.
Automakers and tire makers fought to keep all of that new vehicle safety data out of the public eye, arguing as long as NHTSA saw it, that was all that mattered. Consumer-interest groups, pushed to make all the data public, saying it was valuable to auto consumers and auto-safety groups.
Often unspoken was the concern by business interests that the data would be used by trial lawyers to sue automakers or tire makers. Businesses also complained the public would be misled by the data.
NHTSA came down in the middle. In a two-paragraph ruling buried deep within the Federal Register this spring, the agency decided to make public the data on deaths, injuries and property damage -- while keeping secret data about car and truck warranty claims, customer complaints and early-warning defect reports from auto dealers.
NHTSA defended the decision to keep some information confidential by noting it was disclosing the other data on deaths, injuries and property damage -- the same data it is now keeping secret. TREAD has resulted so far in at least one small piece of new data being made public: warranty recalls in foreign countries.
The consumer-advocacy group Public Citizen sued NHTSA in April, seeking release of all the data. Public Citizen's lawyer said he was puzzled by the NHTSA reversal, while the Rubber Manufacturers Association applauded it.
"The agency knows there is broad interest in this safety data, the data on deaths and property damage. They themselves concluded that in the rule-making process," said Scott Nelson, a lawyer for Public Citizen, based in Washington, D.C. "Now the vehicle-safety information the agency said would be there for the public is being held hostage for months or years while both sides debate and argue the case."
Nelson said NHTSA caved in to the tire makers' lawsuit without requiring them to win a temporary restraining order to prevent release of the safety data.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association -- which filed its suit in June insisting none of the data should be made public --applauded the NHTSA decision, saying the data on deaths, injuries and property damage wouldn't be helpful to consumers.
"Our position is this early-warning data shouldn't be made public, even if the information is accurate. That information is just for the trained federal safety regulators to use," said association spokesman Dan Zielinski. "Our feeling is the data should remain confidential unless NHTSA forms an investigation. There's already plenty of information out there for the public."
He also expressed a typical concern of business groups -- that trial lawyers would use the safety data to file lawsuits against them.
"We wouldn't want a situation where this data was abused. The trial lawyers would find this data interesting to pore through. They are clever people and can make anything sound unsafe, even when it's not," said Zielinski.
Changing positions
The NHTSA decision is an abrupt about-face for the agency in charge of vehicle safety. In an Oct. 27, 2000, memo, NHTSA said it disagreed with the tire makers and other business groups who wanted to prohibit disclosure of all new data coming to NHTSA under the TREAD act.
NHTSA spokesman Tyson said the agency feels like it's being squeezed between one lawsuit by Public Citizen demanding more public disclosure and one from the tire makers demanding less.
"We are caught in the middle, so the courts will have to decide. In the meantime, we are not going to make public any information until we hear from the courts," he said.
The tire makers' lawsuit is not supported by automakers or their trade association, the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers. The alliance has taken the position that NHTSA's original stance -- releasing just the data on vehicle-related deaths, injuries and property damage -- is the proper way to go.
"We have not sought to expand the scope of protection of information beyond the current NHTSA rule," said Erika Jones, lawyer for the Alliance.
NHTSA has yet to officially respond to the Free Press FOIA requests of Aug. 24, which sought access to both the data that was supposed to be public as well as that which the agency had previously decided to keep confidential. On Sept. 22, NHTSA chief counsel Jacqueline Glassman sent an e-mail to the Free Press seeking a 10-day extension on the requests. She also said NHTSA was "considering issues relating to requests for confidential treatment pending the litigation."
TRW Automotive Systems engineers smile and wave reassuringly through the driver's side window.
"Try not to brace yourself for the next one!" Said Survi Edgar Schlaps, manager of seat belt systems product engineering, as the test sled slowly rolls the Smart body back to its starting position. We haven't traveled any farther than a basement corridor at the auto supplier's 26 Mile Road labs in Washington Township near Stony Creek Metropark.
The test sled is demonstrating a small, simple seat belt motor that TRW engineers believe could save a lot of lives. The company calls it "Active Control Retractor," or ACR, and it's one of the first applications to use new technology to reach inside the car to protect occupants before a crash happens.
On the second run, just as the "crash" is about to happen, the seat belt snugs around me. I'm pulled into the seat firmly and in an upright position; my head doesn't whip forward, there's no chest impact against the belt and my hands stay on the wheel with ease.
"We want to show what can be done with a passive safety device that can be activated with an active safety device ahead of time?" Said Douglas P. Campbell, TRW's occupant safety systems vice president of engineering.
The systems are expensive today. Industry analysts estimate they cost from $500 to $1,000, largely because they connect with elaborate stability control and anti-rollover systems that, to date, have only been seen on luxury and high-end production vehicles.
TRW isn't the only manufacturer in the belt-tightening business. Delphi Corp. is shopping its own design around, but has not secured customers yet. Takata provides similar advanced seat belts to Nissan Motor Co., for specially-equipped Infiniti models; Honda Motor Co. Uses a similar device on Inspire models sold only in Japan; Toyota Motor Co.p. has its own system that is part of a larger vehicle stability option.
Russ Rader, spokesman for the Arlington, Va.,-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said the IIHS views such seatbelt tensioning devices as a positive development for automotive safety.
"The key thing is this does not depend on the driver to do something," Rader said.
Past thinking has focused on using technology to warn the driver, and relying on the alerted driver to make the right split-second decision. Active, motorized retractors automatically compensate for a crash.
"This device is part of a number of technologies coming forward that could be very important in crash protection," Rader said. "Putting the vehicle in charge of preparing for a crash is much more important than alerting the driver."
TRW spokesman John Wilkerson said the company has been trying to lure industry executives to ride the Smart sled over the summer, including at the Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars held in August.
Air bags, seat belts and other safety systems to date are primarily engineered to take care of people after a crash has happened, Campbell says. Active systems now can be used to prevent or minimize accidents.
"Active safety is something you activate prior to the collision to try to avoid it," he said.
Since the 2003 model year, some 40,000 Mercedes S-Class vehicles have been equipped with TRW's advance seat belt.
Mercedes spokesperson Michelle Murad said the S-Class system uses sensor inputs from all over the car to detect when a crash might be about to occur; If an accident is imminent, the seatbelts tighten snugly, and the passenger seat is moved to a "more crashworthy" position. If the car detects that it's about to roll over, it will also snap the sunroof closed.
The Mercedes S-class is not the only car to have seat-belt tensioners: Many advanced cars have a pyrotechnic system that, after a crash impulse, fires a one-use charge that clutches the front seat passengers and puts them in the right position for the airbags to deploy safely. But the S-class is the only car to date to carry the TRW system, which can tighten and release the seat belts many times.
"It's reversible. If a potential crash is sensed, but either through the driver's reactions or the active control system helps avoid a crash, the seatbelt slackens up just like always and you're right back where you were before," Campbell said.
Half of all crashes happen with at least a half-second of warning. Sometimes a distracted driver will be tuning the radio, trying to find a fallen object or otherwise not looking at the road. In those cases, the active control retractor can alert them to an impending crash by giving a sharp pull that takes the slack out of their seat belt.
The active belt cannot actually yank a driver around, apply excess force on a driver or pull them away from vital car controls, TRW engineers say. A belt that could physically move an entire driver would take a massive motor of more than 5 horsepower. TRW's key development that enables the system, a powerful and small brushless electric motor about the size of a can of pop, activates at a lower level.
"It's got enough force where it tugs you that it causes you to sit up straight," says Christopher Gorton, core engineering director for TRW North America.
Delphi is in the process of developing an active retractor that it calls a "resettable seat belt," said Delphi spokesperson Milton Beach. Research on such systems has been going on for a long time, but active development has only been occurring over the last 12 months.
TRW engineer Campbell calls the active control retractor an "invisible feature" that most drivers would want if they could feel or see it demonstrated. To make his point, he shows a test track video of a normally-belted front-seat passenger in an aggressively-driven test car. The woman slips from side to side as the car wheels through sharp turns, at one point slipping under the shoulder belt entirely.
The same passenger, snugged in by an active control retractor belt that tightens and loosens as the car maneuvers, stays much more comfortably centered in the car seat as the car handles tight turns.
Tim Moran is a Detroit free-lance writer.
source: http://www.ahboan.com/english/news/newscontent.asp?id=306
It's just past midnight. Highway traffic is sparse and you're on the road, drowsy from a long day.
Your eyelids start to droop and instead of closing for a blink they shut for almost a full second and drift open.
Zip. Your seat belt tightens against your chest. Thump, thump, thump. It taps on your left shoulder with a wake-up call.
The technology is what the auto industry calls an active safety system, which aims to prevent accidents using sensors, cameras, alerts and in some cases brakes and steering to avoid a collision.
Troy-based Delphi Corp. demonstrated the seat belt technology, fitted in a Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicle, during Convergence 2004, an industry conference at Detroit's Cobo Center for automotive electronics.
While safety was the main draw at the three-day conference, which wraps up today, it also featured the latest in audio technology and computerized braking and steering.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said upcoming safety technology could decrease the number of crashes caused by driver distraction, lane changes and rear-end accidents by 1 million annually.
"The hope is that the occupant will pay attention and take heed," said Joseph Kanianthra, NHTSA's associate administrator for vehicle safety research.
In addition to seat belts and air bags to prevent injuries in a crash, some cars already use adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts a car's speed to maintain its distance from the vehicle in front of it.
They are also using stability control systems, which sense when a vehicle is veering off the road and applies brakes to counter it. The technology is already prevalent in Europe and is becoming more common in the United States. A NHTSA study released last month said a stability control system could prevent rollover accidents.
"That's the sort of technology I see doubling every year," said Philip Headley, chief engineer for advanced technologies at Auburn Hills-based Continental Automotive Systems, which makes stability systems.
But technology that drivers can see will be slower to come, such as a camera in the rear bumper with a dash-mounted screen that shows what's behind the car.
For Ford Motor Co., that technology is at least three years away, said Ron Miller, technical leader at Ford's research and advanced engineering in Dearborn.
That is also the timeline for technology that detects drowsiness with a camera in the instrument panel. When the driver's eyes look away from the road or close for too long, it sends an alert, like the seat belt tap.
Delphi is talking to trucking companies about the technology and expects to see it in commercial trucks next year and available to the general public by 2008.
While automakers are interested, there are a few issues keeping the technology from catching on quickly.
Automakers want to standardize the warnings before the technology becomes more common, Miller said. That will mean the seat belt shoulder tap used to wake a driver up in a Ford Escape is the same alert used in a Chevrolet Malibu.
Automakers also need to be sure it works right.
"It must warn only in the appropriate cases and not false alarms," Kanianthra said. "If this doesn't work exactly the way it's supposed to, somebody could argue that it is what caused (a) crash rather than prevented it."
Some drivers aren't convinced that all of the new features will help.
"It's another thing to keep your mind on," said Marie Davis, 35, of Canton, about the alerts.
Also at Convergence:
• Soon, your car stereo will have a hard drive that can hold all your music, just like an MP3 player.
"It does away with you having to reload the CD changer," said Andrew Robertson, a spokesman for Philips Semiconductors.
Wireless technology allows the driver to load the songs from a home computer onto a hard drive in a car.
A Delphi system can hold at least 1,600 songs on 20 gigabytes of space. By next year, the company expects to produce systems with 30-40 gigabytes of space, said Keenan Estese, an engineer with Delphi.
MP3 stereo systems are just the start of new mobile entertainment.
Some cars already have screens for backseat passengers, but television is the goal.
It will be tricky to implement, Robertson said. Researchers are trying to find ways to maintain a signal and make the technology affordable.
• Eventually drivers will be able to brake by pushing a button instead of pressing the brake pedal.
The makers of semiconductors are developing ways to replace mechanical braking and steering systems with computerized systems.
The technology uses the sensors already making their way into vehicles and semiconductors to communicate what the driver wants to the car's computer.
"You won't need the steering wheel. You can use a joystick. You can use a mouse if you like," Robertson said.
"It does away with you having to reload the CD changer," said Andrew Robertson, a spokesman for Philips Semiconductors.
Wireless technology allows the driver to load the songs from a home computer onto a hard drive in a car.
A Delphi system can hold at least 1,600 songs on 20 gigabytes of space. By next year, the company expects to produce systems with 30-40 gigabytes of space, said Keenan Estese, an engineer with Delphi.
MP3 stereo systems are just the start of new mobile entertainment.
Some cars already have screens for backseat passengers, but television is the goal.
It will be tricky to implement, Robertson said. Researchers are trying to find ways to maintain a signal and make the technology affordable.
• Eventually drivers will be able to brake by pushing a button instead of pressing the brake pedal.
The makers of semiconductors are developing ways to replace mechanical braking and steering systems with computerized systems.
The technology uses the sensors already making their way into vehicles and semiconductors to communicate what the driver wants to the car's computer.
"You won't need the steering wheel. You can use a joystick. You can use a mouse if you like," Robertson said.
Article 2: FEDS DELAY AUTO SAFETY DATA
By Dee-Ann Durbin
source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/24/national/main645520.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
(AP) The government's auto safety agency is backing off a plan to make public information on vehicle-related deaths and injuries, pending a court ruling on exactly what data should be disclosed.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this spring it would complete its early warning system by Oct. 1 and release much of the data to the public. The system, demanded by Congress following the 2000 recall of Firestone tires, requires automakers and others to submit data on deaths, injuries, consumer complaints, property damage and warranty claims.
NHTSA agreed to keep warranty claims and consumer complaints confidential after automakers said releasing that data could harm competition. The consumer group Public Citizen sued in March to get access to that information.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association, which represents tire makers, asked to intervene in the case because it wants to keep information on deaths, injuries and property damage confidential. A judge agreed and has ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to respond to the Rubber Manufacturers' claims by Sept. 28.
NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said Friday the agency decided to wait until the courts decide what information should be public.
"We're caught in the middle because we've got lawsuits that are 180 degrees from each other," Tyson said.
Tyson said NHTSA is collecting the data and that the system led to a recall of 490,000 Bridgestone/Firestone tires earlier this year.
"The information is in the hands of the people it was intended for, which is this agency and the defect investigators who are responsible for identifying and seeking remedies for defects as soon as possible," Tyson said.
But Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel forConsumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, said NHTSA is going too far.
"I think it's hard to understand why the government is holding back information," she said. "The spirit of the (law) was really to get information out there so that both the government and individuals can have access to safety information to keep them safer."
By Dee-Ann Durbin
source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/24/national/main645520.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
(AP) The government's auto safety agency is backing off a plan to make public information on vehicle-related deaths and injuries, pending a court ruling on exactly what data should be disclosed.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this spring it would complete its early warning system by Oct. 1 and release much of the data to the public. The system, demanded by Congress following the 2000 recall of Firestone tires, requires automakers and others to submit data on deaths, injuries, consumer complaints, property damage and warranty claims.
NHTSA agreed to keep warranty claims and consumer complaints confidential after automakers said releasing that data could harm competition. The consumer group Public Citizen sued in March to get access to that information.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association, which represents tire makers, asked to intervene in the case because it wants to keep information on deaths, injuries and property damage confidential. A judge agreed and has ordered the U.S. Department of Transportation to respond to the Rubber Manufacturers' claims by Sept. 28.
NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said Friday the agency decided to wait until the courts decide what information should be public.
"We're caught in the middle because we've got lawsuits that are 180 degrees from each other," Tyson said.
Tyson said NHTSA is collecting the data and that the system led to a recall of 490,000 Bridgestone/Firestone tires earlier this year.
"The information is in the hands of the people it was intended for, which is this agency and the defect investigators who are responsible for identifying and seeking remedies for defects as soon as possible," Tyson said.
But Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel forConsumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, said NHTSA is going too far.
"I think it's hard to understand why the government is holding back information," she said. "The spirit of the (law) was really to get information out there so that both the government and individuals can have access to safety information to keep them safer."
Article 3: U.S. KEEPING CRASH DATA SECRET
By Jeffrey McCrackensource: http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/24794/us_keeping_crash_data_secret_officials_backtrack_on_safety_disclosure_amid_suit_by_tire_makers.aspx
Federal auto safety officials are backtracking on a pledge to give consumers access to detailed data on which cars and trucks may be linked to deaths, injuries and property damage. The reason: Tire makers have sued to prevent its release.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it will hold off indefinitely on releasing the information while the lawsuit by the country's largest tire makers is argued and decided, which could take months, if not years. Consumer advocates have been clamoring for the release of such data since the 2000 Ford-Firestone rollover debacle.
Auto experts say these data on vehicle deaths, injuries, property damage and what specific parts may have caused the problem would be of great interest to car and truck shoppers, who often make their buying decisions based on a vehicle's safety records and reliability.
"If you own a car or truck and have a problem with it, or are shopping for a new car or truck, you'd want to see if there were a number of deaths or injuries with that vehicle. It's really disheartening to see NHTSA opting for secrecy in the area of vehicle safety," said Sally Greenberg, senior product safety counsel for Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports magazine.
Until last week, the government said it had made or would make available to the public the new vehicle safety data, including details on the make, model and year of a vehicle in which someone died or was injured, and what vehicle part or system may have caused the accident.
But following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Free Press, NHTSA last week acknowledged this information was not available -- as it had said earlier. It also acknowledged it would not be made public until it deals with the lawsuit filed in June by the Rubber Manufacturers Association, a group that represents tire makers such as Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental.
"We had intended to make all of that information public, the claims data on deaths and property damage, but then we got sued. Because of the lawsuits filed against us, we're holding off on disclosing any further information until we see the outcome of this," said Rae Tyson, NHTSA spokesman. "We're waiting until we get further guidance from the courts."
Consumer-interest groups and vehicle-safety advocates, many of whom already felt like NHTSA was withholding too much vehicle safety data, were outraged at NHTSA's reversal.
"I think the more the government decides to keep data under lock and key, the more they put the public at risk," said Greenberg. "The whole idea should be to provide the public with advanced warning about vehicle hazards, which is exactly what didn't happen in the Ford-Firestone situation."
NHTSA began receiving this new early-warning vehicle-safety data in December 2003 as part of the TREAD Act, a much-publicized law passed in 2000 in response to the rollovers of Ford Motor Co. Explorers equipped with certain Firestone tires. U.S. officials have linked 271 deaths to wrecks involving tread separation of Bridgestone Corp.'s Firestone tires. Most were on Explorers.
Automakers and tire makers fought to keep all of that new vehicle safety data out of the public eye, arguing as long as NHTSA saw it, that was all that mattered. Consumer-interest groups, pushed to make all the data public, saying it was valuable to auto consumers and auto-safety groups.
Often unspoken was the concern by business interests that the data would be used by trial lawyers to sue automakers or tire makers. Businesses also complained the public would be misled by the data.
NHTSA came down in the middle. In a two-paragraph ruling buried deep within the Federal Register this spring, the agency decided to make public the data on deaths, injuries and property damage -- while keeping secret data about car and truck warranty claims, customer complaints and early-warning defect reports from auto dealers.
NHTSA defended the decision to keep some information confidential by noting it was disclosing the other data on deaths, injuries and property damage -- the same data it is now keeping secret. TREAD has resulted so far in at least one small piece of new data being made public: warranty recalls in foreign countries.
The consumer-advocacy group Public Citizen sued NHTSA in April, seeking release of all the data. Public Citizen's lawyer said he was puzzled by the NHTSA reversal, while the Rubber Manufacturers Association applauded it.
"The agency knows there is broad interest in this safety data, the data on deaths and property damage. They themselves concluded that in the rule-making process," said Scott Nelson, a lawyer for Public Citizen, based in Washington, D.C. "Now the vehicle-safety information the agency said would be there for the public is being held hostage for months or years while both sides debate and argue the case."
Nelson said NHTSA caved in to the tire makers' lawsuit without requiring them to win a temporary restraining order to prevent release of the safety data.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association -- which filed its suit in June insisting none of the data should be made public --applauded the NHTSA decision, saying the data on deaths, injuries and property damage wouldn't be helpful to consumers.
"Our position is this early-warning data shouldn't be made public, even if the information is accurate. That information is just for the trained federal safety regulators to use," said association spokesman Dan Zielinski. "Our feeling is the data should remain confidential unless NHTSA forms an investigation. There's already plenty of information out there for the public."
He also expressed a typical concern of business groups -- that trial lawyers would use the safety data to file lawsuits against them.
"We wouldn't want a situation where this data was abused. The trial lawyers would find this data interesting to pore through. They are clever people and can make anything sound unsafe, even when it's not," said Zielinski.
Changing positions
The NHTSA decision is an abrupt about-face for the agency in charge of vehicle safety. In an Oct. 27, 2000, memo, NHTSA said it disagreed with the tire makers and other business groups who wanted to prohibit disclosure of all new data coming to NHTSA under the TREAD act.
NHTSA spokesman Tyson said the agency feels like it's being squeezed between one lawsuit by Public Citizen demanding more public disclosure and one from the tire makers demanding less.
"We are caught in the middle, so the courts will have to decide. In the meantime, we are not going to make public any information until we hear from the courts," he said.
The tire makers' lawsuit is not supported by automakers or their trade association, the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers. The alliance has taken the position that NHTSA's original stance -- releasing just the data on vehicle-related deaths, injuries and property damage -- is the proper way to go.
"We have not sought to expand the scope of protection of information beyond the current NHTSA rule," said Erika Jones, lawyer for the Alliance.
NHTSA has yet to officially respond to the Free Press FOIA requests of Aug. 24, which sought access to both the data that was supposed to be public as well as that which the agency had previously decided to keep confidential. On Sept. 22, NHTSA chief counsel Jacqueline Glassman sent an e-mail to the Free Press seeking a 10-day extension on the requests. She also said NHTSA was "considering issues relating to requests for confidential treatment pending the litigation."
Article 4: PLAYING GAMES WITH AUTO SAFETY: MARION TEACHERS MAY USE VIDEO GAME IN DRIVER'S EDUCATION
By Eric Chaney
source: scanned
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MARION -- Most high school kids have seen a skid demonstration put on by an insurance company, local law enforcement or other group and a few lucky kids have even gotten to test their own reaction time in a real vehicle. But Country Financial wanted to take that one step farther and allow all kids to see just how tough it is to stop a moving vehicle - and let them do it as many times as they wanted.
"We're growing geographically," said Country Financial Education Specialist Rachel Schlipmann, "and we wanted a way to be able to reach more people."
So they created Auto Skid, a computer program that simulates a skid demonstration, where kids are tested with emergency stops to avoid a child playing in the road and other vehicles.
"We stuck with the same basic message that the skid demonstration teaches," said Schlipmann, "that reaction distance plus braking distance equals total stopping distance."
Students can choose between several different scenarios behind the wheel, such as driving in a residential area, the suburbs, a country highway and the interstate. The area in which students choose to drive affects their top speed, but the game offers other choices that provide a vast array of situations. Students can choose the weather, type of vehicle, the condition of the vehicle's brake and tires, whether or not the driver is intoxicated, tired, eating, chatting on a cell phone or playing with the radio.
"Auto Skid helps teens become more aware of how all of these factors impact the time and distance it takes to stop a moving vehicle," explains Schlipmann. "The tutorial lessons are designed to help new drivers become smarter drivers, and the game makes learning fun and interesting."
Auto Skid also features eight interactive lessons that drive home the importance of stopping as well as resources, such as additional classroom activities, a quiz and worksheets educators can use to supplement driver education curriculum.
"We started distributing them this month and we're hitting all the drivers ed teacher's conventions in the state of Illinois. Eventually we're hoping to hit all 14 states that we cover."
Schlipmann was at the Marion Knights of Columbus Hall on Thursday to present the program to drivers ed teachers around the region.
"I wasn't able to hear her presentation," said Marion drivers ed teacher Roger Minton, "but ifs something that we will probably use in our classrooms. We have the capability now to hook up our computer into a projector, so we'll be able to show it to the whole class."
The program is a free, self-contained CD that can be used at home or school with most PC or MAC systems. Teachers, parents or students who are interested in acquiring a free copy of the game can do so at Country Financial's Web site at www.country financial.com/autoskid.
UPDATE: You can actually play a demo of the game at http://www.countryfinancial.com/flash/financial/staticNav/toolsAndResources/autoSkid/autoSkid.html
"We're growing geographically," said Country Financial Education Specialist Rachel Schlipmann, "and we wanted a way to be able to reach more people."
So they created Auto Skid, a computer program that simulates a skid demonstration, where kids are tested with emergency stops to avoid a child playing in the road and other vehicles.
"We stuck with the same basic message that the skid demonstration teaches," said Schlipmann, "that reaction distance plus braking distance equals total stopping distance."
Students can choose between several different scenarios behind the wheel, such as driving in a residential area, the suburbs, a country highway and the interstate. The area in which students choose to drive affects their top speed, but the game offers other choices that provide a vast array of situations. Students can choose the weather, type of vehicle, the condition of the vehicle's brake and tires, whether or not the driver is intoxicated, tired, eating, chatting on a cell phone or playing with the radio.
"Auto Skid helps teens become more aware of how all of these factors impact the time and distance it takes to stop a moving vehicle," explains Schlipmann. "The tutorial lessons are designed to help new drivers become smarter drivers, and the game makes learning fun and interesting."
Auto Skid also features eight interactive lessons that drive home the importance of stopping as well as resources, such as additional classroom activities, a quiz and worksheets educators can use to supplement driver education curriculum.
"We started distributing them this month and we're hitting all the drivers ed teacher's conventions in the state of Illinois. Eventually we're hoping to hit all 14 states that we cover."
Schlipmann was at the Marion Knights of Columbus Hall on Thursday to present the program to drivers ed teachers around the region.
"I wasn't able to hear her presentation," said Marion drivers ed teacher Roger Minton, "but ifs something that we will probably use in our classrooms. We have the capability now to hook up our computer into a projector, so we'll be able to show it to the whole class."
The program is a free, self-contained CD that can be used at home or school with most PC or MAC systems. Teachers, parents or students who are interested in acquiring a free copy of the game can do so at Country Financial's Web site at www.country financial.com/autoskid.
UPDATE: You can actually play a demo of the game at http://www.countryfinancial.com/flash/financial/staticNav/toolsAndResources/autoSkid/autoSkid.html
Article 5: SMART SEAT BELT COULD MEAN SURVIVAL
TRW device pulls driver into the seat before crash occurs.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - The tiny Smart car takes off slowly from a standing start, and my hands are loosely gripping the steering wheel as the car reaches 6.5 miles per hour when - WHAM! - I stop with a tooth-jarring, chest-thumping and head-lashing crash.TRW Automotive Systems engineers smile and wave reassuringly through the driver's side window.
"Try not to brace yourself for the next one!" Said Survi Edgar Schlaps, manager of seat belt systems product engineering, as the test sled slowly rolls the Smart body back to its starting position. We haven't traveled any farther than a basement corridor at the auto supplier's 26 Mile Road labs in Washington Township near Stony Creek Metropark.
The test sled is demonstrating a small, simple seat belt motor that TRW engineers believe could save a lot of lives. The company calls it "Active Control Retractor," or ACR, and it's one of the first applications to use new technology to reach inside the car to protect occupants before a crash happens.
On the second run, just as the "crash" is about to happen, the seat belt snugs around me. I'm pulled into the seat firmly and in an upright position; my head doesn't whip forward, there's no chest impact against the belt and my hands stay on the wheel with ease.
"We want to show what can be done with a passive safety device that can be activated with an active safety device ahead of time?" Said Douglas P. Campbell, TRW's occupant safety systems vice president of engineering.
The systems are expensive today. Industry analysts estimate they cost from $500 to $1,000, largely because they connect with elaborate stability control and anti-rollover systems that, to date, have only been seen on luxury and high-end production vehicles.
TRW isn't the only manufacturer in the belt-tightening business. Delphi Corp. is shopping its own design around, but has not secured customers yet. Takata provides similar advanced seat belts to Nissan Motor Co., for specially-equipped Infiniti models; Honda Motor Co. Uses a similar device on Inspire models sold only in Japan; Toyota Motor Co.p. has its own system that is part of a larger vehicle stability option.
Russ Rader, spokesman for the Arlington, Va.,-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said the IIHS views such seatbelt tensioning devices as a positive development for automotive safety.
"The key thing is this does not depend on the driver to do something," Rader said.
Past thinking has focused on using technology to warn the driver, and relying on the alerted driver to make the right split-second decision. Active, motorized retractors automatically compensate for a crash.
"This device is part of a number of technologies coming forward that could be very important in crash protection," Rader said. "Putting the vehicle in charge of preparing for a crash is much more important than alerting the driver."
TRW spokesman John Wilkerson said the company has been trying to lure industry executives to ride the Smart sled over the summer, including at the Traverse City Management Briefing Seminars held in August.
Air bags, seat belts and other safety systems to date are primarily engineered to take care of people after a crash has happened, Campbell says. Active systems now can be used to prevent or minimize accidents.
"Active safety is something you activate prior to the collision to try to avoid it," he said.
Since the 2003 model year, some 40,000 Mercedes S-Class vehicles have been equipped with TRW's advance seat belt.
Mercedes spokesperson Michelle Murad said the S-Class system uses sensor inputs from all over the car to detect when a crash might be about to occur; If an accident is imminent, the seatbelts tighten snugly, and the passenger seat is moved to a "more crashworthy" position. If the car detects that it's about to roll over, it will also snap the sunroof closed.
The Mercedes S-class is not the only car to have seat-belt tensioners: Many advanced cars have a pyrotechnic system that, after a crash impulse, fires a one-use charge that clutches the front seat passengers and puts them in the right position for the airbags to deploy safely. But the S-class is the only car to date to carry the TRW system, which can tighten and release the seat belts many times.
"It's reversible. If a potential crash is sensed, but either through the driver's reactions or the active control system helps avoid a crash, the seatbelt slackens up just like always and you're right back where you were before," Campbell said.
Half of all crashes happen with at least a half-second of warning. Sometimes a distracted driver will be tuning the radio, trying to find a fallen object or otherwise not looking at the road. In those cases, the active control retractor can alert them to an impending crash by giving a sharp pull that takes the slack out of their seat belt.
The active belt cannot actually yank a driver around, apply excess force on a driver or pull them away from vital car controls, TRW engineers say. A belt that could physically move an entire driver would take a massive motor of more than 5 horsepower. TRW's key development that enables the system, a powerful and small brushless electric motor about the size of a can of pop, activates at a lower level.
"It's got enough force where it tugs you that it causes you to sit up straight," says Christopher Gorton, core engineering director for TRW North America.
Delphi is in the process of developing an active retractor that it calls a "resettable seat belt," said Delphi spokesperson Milton Beach. Research on such systems has been going on for a long time, but active development has only been occurring over the last 12 months.
TRW engineer Campbell calls the active control retractor an "invisible feature" that most drivers would want if they could feel or see it demonstrated. To make his point, he shows a test track video of a normally-belted front-seat passenger in an aggressively-driven test car. The woman slips from side to side as the car wheels through sharp turns, at one point slipping under the shoulder belt entirely.
The same passenger, snugged in by an active control retractor belt that tightens and loosens as the car maneuvers, stays much more comfortably centered in the car seat as the car handles tight turns.
Tim Moran is a Detroit free-lance writer.
since 9/18/09
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