Tokyo -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., today announced that it has completed development of a Brake Operated Pre-crash Seatbelt designed to help mitigate occupant injury in the event of a collision.
This new safety restraint system detects the possibility of a collision from the driver's operation of the brake pedal and retracts the seatbelt in advance to help restrain the occupant immediately. If the crash is unavoidable, early seat belt restraint can help maximize the effectiveness of the other occupant protection devises (such as air bags). This system will be installed in a new luxury model scheduled for release next year.
System Diagram
The newly developed Brake Operated Pre-crash Seatbelt predicts vehicle and occupant behavior based on how fast and how much the driver depresses the brake pedal in emergency braking. This revolutionary system then progressively retracts the driver's and front passenger's seatbelts according to the speed and extent of brake pedal depression so as to help minimize occupant motion.
As a result, the seatbelt system helps the driver's ability to execute collision avoidance maneuvers because occupant motion due to braking action are kept to a minimum. Moreover, in the event that a collision is unavoidable, the Pre-crash Seatbelt provides faster occupant restraint. This earlier restraint of the occupant helps maximize the effectiveness of seatbelt pre-tensioners, air bags and other safety equipment. The Pre-crash seat belt is expected to have a substantial effect on helping to reduce the number of fatal and serious-injury accidents that currently occur.
This new safety system is one product of Nissan ASV (Advanced Safety Vehicle) research activities. Other advanced ASV technologies include the world's first Lane-Keeping Support system featured on the CIMA and the Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) system that is currently available on Nissan's medium-class and larger models.
Since 1995, Nissan has conducted research on real-world traffic accidents with the aim of achieving its goal to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries involving Nissan vehicles by half. The results of this research are used to develop highly effective safety technologies that are widely adopted on Nissan vehicles.
Nissan will continue to provide safe Nissan vehicles designed and engineered to meet the needs of society, thereby meeting its corporate social responsibilities and contributing to enriching people's lives.
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