December 18, 2009
Ford Motor Company says it will double the availability of its Adaptive Cruise Control and Collision Warning with Brake Support system in 2010 when the radar-based driver aid and crash avoidance technologies are added to the next-generation Ford Explorer, Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX.
The system was introduced on 2009 models. One in four owners of those vehicles opted for these state-of-the-art driver awareness features, the carmaker said.
In 2010, the newly enhanced system will allow up to two drivers to program personal settings for both features, including their preferred lead vehicle distance warning times, and a more user-friendly heads-up display.
"We've taken a great set of driver awareness features and made them more effective through the use of a more user-friendly interface that's designed to provide an enhanced driver experience," said Steve Kozak, Ford's chief engineer for safety systems.
Uses radar
More than 70 percent of vehicle accidents occur between two or more moving vehicles, with rear-end accidents accounting for nearly a third of all accidents documented. Ford said its studies show most rear-end collisions are due to driver inattention and insufficient driver braking.
When activated, Adaptive Cruise Control operates just like normal cruise control. If its radar sensor detects slower moving vehicles immediately ahead, the system will reduce the cruising speed as appropriate.
When its sensors detect traffic has cleared, the user's vehicle resumes the set speed. The radar sensor can detect vehicles up to 150 yards away, track their status 20 times per second, and detect speed changes of as little as 1/4 mph, the carmaker said.
Collision Warning with Brake Support uses the same radar capability as Adaptive Cruise Control and can sense changes in the traffic flow, as low as 1/4 mph, Ford says. If the driver's response is delayed, the system will pre-charge the brakes to prepare the vehicle for more aggressive braking to help avoid rear-end accidents.
If the driver lifts quickly off of the accelerator indicating a desire to slow down, the system will apply the brakes to a nominal level to begin decelerating the vehicle faster than the driver can move their foot to the brake pedal.
If the driver hits the brakes rapidly, the system will ensure that they are using the full braking capability of the vehicle to avoid or mitigate the potential threat. The feature can detect a change in traffic conditions within 250 milliseconds and provide a warning as quickly as 100 milliseconds later. The system's activation sensitivity is determined by the driver's programmable preference.
"We've designed the chime and visual alerts to be effective at improving the reaction time from the driver when they're not paying attention, to get them on to the task at hand, which is applying the brakes if needed," said Aaron Mills, Ford senior engineer of advanced driver assistance systems.
