Safety

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.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 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.

You may have heard that 5G networks are going to change the world, creating an "internet of things", but one innovation that's really impressive is the ability to use the technology to connect cars in a way that will prevent up to 68 per cent of all road accidents.

Road-safety groups across Europe are pushing for technology that would make it possible for cars to prevent you from exceeding the speed limit, and calling for its inclusion to be mandatory in all new vehicles by 2022.

The NSW government has made changes to its Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2017 to give authorities the power to suspend the registration of vehicles still fitted with Alpha-type Takata airbags.

In a move that has the genuine potential to save thousands of lives, and prevent millions of injuries, the EU and Japan have backed a draft United Nations regulation to make Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) mandatory on all new cars and light commercial vehicles from 2020.The regulation would impose strict requirements on all new cars built from that date to be able to brake automatically if danger is detected at speeds of up to 60km/h.It’s a move that will definitely save lives, according to the UN Economic Commission for Europe."It activates the brake to stop a crash. It will not drive, it will brake," UNECE spokesman Jean Rodriguez told a briefing. He added that there would be no obligation to retrofit older vehicles with AEB, no doubt due to the huge potential cost.Japan and the EU have agreed to the deal to make AEB systems mandatory on all cars they build - which adds up to four million a year in Japan and 15m in Europe.Unfortunately, the US, China and India are not signatories to the agreement. India has, however, announced that it will demand AEB be mandatory on all new vehicles by 2022, and it’s very much a live issue in the US as well, with many car makers pledging, outside of any legislation, to make it standard equipment by 2022.The UNECE said the wider roll-out of AEB (which is already in many modern cars) would help to save lives in urban settings in particular.In Europe alone, more than 9500 people died in car car crashes inside city limits in 2016, and 40 per cent of those were pedestrians.You’ll no doubt be surprised to hear that Australia is dragging the chain on making AEB a compulsory fitment to new cars sold here, despite a campaign by VicRoads to make it happen.VicRoads' acting deputy chief executive, Robyn Seymour, has been pushing for a change to ADRs to make AEB compulsory, just as we did with electronic stability control systems, back in 2011."In a range of forums we have had with the Commonwealth, we have been advocating for the fact that the Commonwealth has a key role to play in the space of road safety and they have one of the strongest capacities to ensure we are getting safer vehicles on the road,” Ms Seymour said."It is one of the technologies we know will be very effective in reducing crashes so we’re keen to work with them on how we might develop that ADR.”In a 2014 investigation, the RACV found that up to 40 per cent of crashes could be prevented by the technology.

We are part of the group that is urgently trying to get the Takata airbags replaced and we keep getting told it is safe to drive until the scheduled date of replacement – Aug 2019. Is there anything we could do to get it replaced sooner?

The new Toyota RAV4 will get a safety overhaul when it goes on sale later this year, with the brand promising class-leading safety right across its 11-strong range.

The driver's seat in your next new car will be able to read your heart rate, stress levels and monitor drowsiness, according to manufacturing giant Lear.

The autonomous car dream is actually more like a nightmare for the majority of Australians, with more than half of us saying we'd never feel safe in a driverless car, and 40 per cent describing the rush to autonomy as "not a priority at all".

One of the sleeper hits of 2019, Suzuki's Jimny off-roader, has just been handed a three-star ANCAP safety rating.