Nissan's Safety Activities
Nissan addresses vehicle safety issues through rigorous analysis of real-world traffic accidents, with the goal of achieving safe, accident-free driving.
Setting Ambitious Targets
The concept of “vehicle safety” takes many forms, from engineering vehicles that help drivers avoid accidents, to protecting drivers and passengers in the case of accidents, to helping reduce injuries in the event of collisions with pedestrians, to reducing traffic congestion and heightening people’s awareness of traffic safety. Nissan is actively involved in finding solutions that address all of these wide-ranging areas – an approach that begins by continually analysing actual traffic accident data involving Nissan vehicles in Japan.
With this “real world” perspective as its core, Nissan has set an ambitious goal of halving the number of traffic accident fatalities and serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles in Japan by 2015, compared with 1995.
In addition to enhancing safety functions at the vehicle level, Nissan has launched the SKY Project that uses Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technologies to ease traffic congestion and improve safety. Nissan is also engaged in a variety of educational activities to raise people's awareness of traffic safety, particularly drivers’ awareness.
Safety Shield – Developing Vehicles That Help Protect People
Since 2004, Nissan has incorporated its “Safety Shield” concept into vehicle development activities. This advanced, proactive approach to safety classifies driving risks and accidents into six areas, from “pre-risk” to “post accident.” The Safety Shield philosophy focuses on ways to support drivers in helping to avoid potentially dangerous situations through the development of systems that first provide drivers with the appropriate information, then allow the vehicles to react accurately to his or her intentions. Should an accident become unavoidable, Nissan has designed vehicles and vehicle systems that intervene to help minimise injuries and damage.
Advanced Driver-Support Technologies
Nissan aims to engineer vehicles that are enjoyable to drive and enrich people's lives,
while at the same time embodying high levels of safety and reliability to give customers peace of mind. To that end, Nissan has developed a number of advanced production technologies.
Around View Monitor
Nissan’s safety vision includes several systems that enhance or “extend” a driver’s vision, especially when parking or backing up. Nissan’s new Around View Monitor (AVM) provides images to the driver of the complete area around the vehicle. Taken by four high-resolution, 180-degree wide-angle cameras mounted at the front, rear and on both sides of the vehicle, these images are synthesised and shown on an instrument panel display, giving the driver a “bird's-eye view” of what is occurring outside of the vehicle.
The AVM system enables the driver to determine at a glance the vehicle's position in relation to the lines of a parking space, as well as making it easier to determine the vehicle’s path when parallel parking or pulling into a tight garage space. Front and rear views can also be displayed along with an overhead view, enabling a driver to simultaneously confirm the front, rear and around-vehicle situation.
Side blind spots can also be shown together with the rear view, so that the driver can simultaneously check the left front side and rear of the vehicle, which are the most worrisome areas when parallel parking. In addition, supplemental sonar devices are located at the vehicle corners, enabling the camera displays to be easier understood.
Distance Control Assist System
Nissan’s new Distance Control Assist System (DCAS) utilises a radar sensor mounted at the front of the vehicle, which measures the distance to a vehicle in front of the Nissan DCAS host vehicle, as well as the preceding vehicle’s relative speed. This combination of information assists the Nissan driver in maintaining a suitable distance when following another vehicle.
For example, if the driver is not pressing the accelerator, the Distance Control Assist System smoothly applies the brakes when the Nissan approaches another car too closely. If the Nissan driver is pressing the accelerator and approaches another car too quickly, the system generates a force to lift the pedal, assisting the driver in releasing the accelerator.
In the event that the Distance Control Assist System judges that braking is necessary by the driver because the preceding vehicle has slowed down, it issues audible and visual alerts. The system also generates force to lift the accelerator pedal, thus helping the driver switch from the accelerator to the brake pedal. This combination of brake control and pedal operation provided by the Distance Control Assist System enhances driving comfort and driver peace of mind.
Advanced Pedestrian Safety Technologies
Along with a commitment to help reduce serious injuries to vehicle occupants, Nissan is also developing new pedestrian safety technologies, such as impact-absorbing body structures, to help reduce pedestrian injuries in the event of unavoidable car-pedestrian collisions.
The energy-absorbing capacities of the bonnet, front wings and cowl of many Nissan vehicles have been improved to help mitigate impact to a pedestrian’s head, and energy-absorbing materials have been applied to front bumpers to mitigate the impact to pedestrians' legs. The application of this technology is now being steadily expanded to more Nissan model lines.
Pop-up Bonnet
The latest Nissan safety technology developed in the area of enhanced pedestrian safety is a new “pop-up engine hood” design. Nissan is now applying this technology to car models with low bonnet heights, where ample buffer space between the bonnet and engine components underneath is difficult to obtain.
When sensors embedded in the front bumper detect an impact with a pedestrian, the control unit of the pop-up bonnet determines if the bonnet needs to be instantly raised. If deemed necessary, the control unit activates a pyrotechnic actuator that raises the rear edge of the bonnet, creating a larger protective buffer space between the bonnet and hard engine components underneath. This helps cushion the impact to the pedestrian's head if it collides with the bonnet. This technology offers enhanced pedestrian safety, while also allowing Nissan designers greater freedom to create low profile, sporty front-end vehicle designs.
