Extend Your Night Vision
SAFETY
Extend Your Night Vision
An Introduction to Volvo Enhanced Cruise by Bendix® Part II
By Fred Andersky Marketing Director, Controls Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC
E
ver drive down the road and have a tough time seeing in front of you? Think heavy rain, fog, smoke or blinding snow. Sure, you're driving cautiously in these conditions, but what about the line of traffic stopped up ahead ... will you be able to see and react in time to avoid being the cause of one of those multi-car pile ups seen on the evening news?
Insight when you can't see
An advantage of forward-looking systems like Volvo Enhanced Cruise (VEC) by Bendix is that they use radar that is able to "see" through many of these conditions. Like a plane coming through a cloud bank, the radar delivers information to the system which can then provide you an alert with up to 3 seconds of warning in case a metallic object, like a stalled car, is stopped in your lane ahead. This stationary object alert may give you the time you need to react, and possibly avoid, an impending collision.
power on the vehicle. This means that you still have additional braking power in other words, you can still apply your service brakes to slow your vehicle more rapidly. During an intervention, the VEC system can alert you when you will need to hit the brakes harder. If the gap between the forward vehicle is closing rapidly, and VEC determines that it does not have enough braking capability to avoid the collision, then the system will alert the driver. Of course, having a system like VEC on your vehicle is not a replacement for good driving practices. You shouldn't rely on the system to do your job you're still in control and responsible for safe operation of your vehicle. So rely on your driving experience and sound judgment of the situation, not on the system, to know when to apply additional braking.
ing another display mounted on the dash just creates the opportunity for added distraction. But that's not the case with VEC. It is fully integrated into Volvo's electronic dash. As a result, it delivers its information and alerts audible and visual right where you would naturally look for them through the dash itself. In fact, the full integration of alerts can make it even easier for you to quickly assess the situation ahead of you so you can react more rapidly to avoid a collision.
Built on VEST by Bendix full stability to help you in rollovers and loss of control
The Volvo Enhanced Cruise system is built on top of Volvo Enhanced Stability Technology (VEST). Why? Because you're not just dealing with collisions out there rollovers and loss-of-control are still problems on the roadways. Remember the 11,000 rollovers in 2008? Many of these rollovers started with a loss-of-control event like swerving to avoid a car in front of you. So why shouldn't you have the most active safety available on your truck? A system that can help you mitigate collisions, rollovers, and loss of control makes a pretty complete package.
Information through the dash, not on the dash
Truck cabs today look more like jet fighter cockpits there are all sorts of gauges, switches, and readouts to keep you aware of what's happening with your vehicle. One concern often mentioned when people talk about safety technologies is that add-
Braking power you're still in control
The VEC system today delivers about one third of the available braking
DRIVER'S DIGEST 6
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