Crashing the BMW

BMW 530d after crash test

Nobody likes to be involved in a car crash and very few people can say that they have trained for such a situation. It is no wonder that technology is slowly taking over this hazardous situation. Taking into the account the speed with which modern electronics react, versus the speed with which an average human can react, it is no wonder that BMW started experimenting with those systems many years ago.

In the recent world premiere, the BMW 530d equipped with anticipatory assistance system successfully passed a so called “offset crash”. This system was integrated into an upgraded Active Cruse Control, which was extended with new sensors, like a radar. The whole system is designed in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with driver’s control of the vehicle until it is absolutely necessary to do something. So one doesn’t need to fear that car will suddenly start breaking, on its own.

The way it is done: a collision threatening situation is divided into several stages. First system will just pass a visual warning in a form of a lit up symbol on a dashboard or a small head up display. If situation continues to worsen, still without any reaction from driver, an audible alarm will sound off and at that point brakes will be pretensioned. Basically braking system will be prefiled with braking fluid and brake trigger level will be automatically lowered, all in order to reduce the time that is needed to engage the brakes. If finally, car enters into the third and last stage; where collision is imminent and unavoidable, the car will take over and activate brakes as required.

In the tests run at DEKRA, near Neumunster near Hamburg, the speed of BMW 530d that was approaching an offset obstacle was reduced, at the point of collision, from 60 km/h down to 40 km/h. That is great success for the new system since it reduces a kinetic energy absorbed by passengers by 33%.

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