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Mazda Australia says the safety technology incorporated in its soon-to-arrive, fourth generation Mazda3, “establishes a new norm for Mazda and a new safety norm for the small car segment.”
The all-new Mazda3 is scheduled to arrive in hatch form in April, with the sedan version following mid-year, and Mazda says safety is a key purchase motivator for its customers.
Standard active safety tech across the six model range includes ABS, EBA and EBD, front and rear ‘Smart Brake Support’ (Mazda-speak for AEB), blind spot monitoring, ‘Driver Attention Alert’ (DAA), ‘Forward Obstruction Warning’ (FOW), lane departure warning, lane-keep assist, radar cruise control (with ‘Stop & Go’ function), rear parking sensors, rear-cross traffic alert, reverse camera, traffic sign recognition, a tyre pressure monitoring system.
On the passive side the airbag count has increased from six (driver and front passenger, side front, and curtain) to seven with the addition of a driver’s knee bag.
The top-spec Astina also picks up the ‘Vision Technology’ safety pack, optionally available for $1500 on all other models.
The package includes, a 360-degree view monitor, adaptive LED headlights, ‘Cruising & Traffic Support’ (semi-autonomous accelerator, brake and steering support up to 60km/h), driver monitoring (using in-cabin cameras), front cross-traffic alert, front parking sensors and Smart Brake Support (Rear Crossing).
Several safety features are firsts for Mazda, including ‘Driver Monitoring’ which uses an infrared camera and infrared LED mounted in the instrument bezel to analyse the driver’s condition.
The system measures how wide open the driver’s eyes are, the number of times they blink, as well as the angle of the mouth and face to determine levels of drowsiness or fatigue, day or night.
Mazda says the set-up isn’t affected by hand movements or operation of the steering wheel, checking the driver’s line of sight and eye movement only to determine inattentiveness.
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If it senses a dangerous situation the system sounds an alert, working with the AEB (Mazda calls it ‘Smart Brake Support’), to shorten the time required for the brake warning to sound.
‘Cruising & Traffic Support’ assists accelerator, brake and steering functions up to 60km/h, setting a proper trailing distance when following a vehicle ahead in heavy traffic, and supplementing steering torque to help maintain lane position.
‘Front cross-traffic alert’ uses front-side radars to detect other vehicles approaching from blind spots to the front left or right of the vehicle when pulling away from a standing start.
‘Intelligent speed assist’ recognises road signs (via traffic sign recognition) to adjust speed, flashing a graphic alert display if the vehicle exceeds the speed limit, for example down a steep hill.
‘Adaptive LED headlights’ use an LED array divided into 20 blocks that can be turned on and off individually to adjust their illumination pattern depending on the car’s speed, and adjust for optimum visibility in cornering.
Use of ultra-high-tensile steel has risen from three to 30 per cent, to now include the framework, bumper beam, B-pillars and side sills. And although the new Mazda3 is yet to be assessed by ANCAP or Euro NCAP, Mazda is confident its new small car will do well.
Mazda Australia marketing director, Alastair Doak told CarsGuide, “I assume it will be done in Europe, given we have the same car here that Europe has. Obviously, the way it’s specced we believe it will get [the maximum] five stars, and Mazda Corporation believes it will get five.”
“But I think you can see how much standard safety is in the car. And we haven’t just done the ANCAP menu and ticked the box like some others have. We’ve gone beyond that. It’s about doing the best thing for our customers,” he said.
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