Car safety is to the average owner what horsepower is to a car enthusiast: you never can have enough of it. General Motors recently detailed the car safety features of the all-new 2014 Chevrolet Impala, which made its debut at this year’s New York Auto show.
Car safety systems are usually divided into passive and active systems. Passive systems include airbags and the familiar three-point seatbelt. Active car safety systems, on the other hand, use sensors like radar and cameras to continually scan around cars like the Impala. When the Chevy Impala’s computers determine certain conditions gathered from those sensors—like an imminent collision with another vehicle, or a child playing behind the sedan—the car is designed to alert the driver. Other active car safety system prep the car in anticipation of certain driver actions. Example of the latter includes the 2014 Chevrolet Impala’s brake pre-fill feature, which increases brake speed reaction in order to stop the car more quickly.
Some notable safety features found on the 2014 Chevy Impala include:
- Collision mitigation braking. This active car safety system stops the car if it detects the driver is not pressing the brakes fast enough, if at all, to prevent a collision. Volvo uses such a system, called City Safe, on its S60 sedan and XC60 crossover.
- Lane departure system. Cameras keep an eye on those white and yellow traffic lines on the road. If the driver starts to move onto or cross those lines, the Chevy Impala’s lane departure system chimes in to alert them of the error.
- Rear cross traffic alert. Useful when trying to merge back into traffic from a parked spot. The Impala’s rear cross traffic alert system monitors traffic to the side and behind you, quickly notifying via visual and audio cues that a vehicle is headed your way.
- Full-speed range adaptive cruise control. A step beyond regular cruise control, the Chevy Impala’s systems keep a specified distance from the vehicle(s) ahead. When that lead vehicle speeds up/slows down, the Impala’s active cruise control does the same to maintain the set distance. Found in many luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz. The 2012 Chevrolet Impala practically drives itself with adaptive cruise control and lane departure system.
The Chevrolet Impala is tentatively scheduled to go on sale next year as a 2014 model. GM has not yet released pricing information on the full-sized sedan.
Via Automotive