AcuraWatch™ Safety and Driver Technologies
It is everyone's responsibility to drive with awareness and caution in mind. As the saying goes though, "accidents happen." Life threatening collisions and minor fender benders happen every day, and some of them are simply unavoidable. Acura is aiming to make the unavoidable, avoidable by introducing a series of safety measures that work cooperatively to help the driver maintain greater situational awareness. AcuraWatch™ is the name of this comprehensive program, and it has already become a vital safety feature amongst such models as the luxurious ILX as a standard feature or the RLX and TLX with their available technology package.
We have all been there. Driving home late at night, your reflexes dulled slightly by fatigue. Or maybe you are rushing back to the office after a lunch meeting that went just a little too late. Your eyes leave the road for only a split second, but sometimes that split second is all it takes for a complete catastrophe to take place. An all-encompassing safety system will not eliminate the need for driver awareness behind the wheel, but it can definitely help to mitigate incidents. AcuraWatch™ comprises of eight different monitoring systems that all work together to aid in Acura's goal of eliminating vehicle collisions altogether.
| Adaptive Cruise Control
AcuraWatch™ begins with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), which is a radar-based system that monitors the distance between your vehicle and the one preceding it, maintaining a safe following speed. The Forward Collision Warning (FCW) System works along with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) to mitigate collisions using that same radar system and triggering a warning if you are in danger of colliding with the vehicle in front of you. If a warning is given and you haven't slowed down enough to avoid a collision, the Collision Mitigation Braking system™ (CMBS) brakes the vehicle for you. In the guise of keeping you where you belong, AcuraWatch's Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system uses a series of sensors to detect and warn you if you are veering into a neighboring lane. Lane departure assistive technologies work alongside the Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system to mitigate threats. The Road Departure Mitigation system recognizes lane features and identifies lanes. When a vehicle is deviating from the road, it will take control of both the steering and braking mechanisms of the vehicle to maneuver it back into its proper lane. AcuraWatch's Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) takes the Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system a step further by not only detecting when your vehicle is veering into the wrong lane, but it also takes control of the steering mechanism of your vehicle and migrates it back into its designated lane. |
| Blind Spot Information
At the rear of your vehicle, a Blind Spot Information (BSI) system monitors the blind spots on both the driver and passenger sides. You will receive an illuminated indication if there is another vehicle occupying your blind spot, this indicator is located in either the A-pillar or the side mirror of the vehicle. Finally, a multi-view rear-view camera provides three different views of anything that is behind you while your vehicle is in reverse. This camera works alongside a rear Cross Traffic Alert system, which gives you a warning if any cross traffic is detected while you are in reverse. Accidents are unpredictable. They are not wanted, they are not needed, and they can range from a being a minor inconvenience to being life threatening. In an ideal world, we would be able to eliminate them entirely, but until we have invented a system of vehicles that operate on their own, human error will still be a factor in our daily commute. The least we can do is try to prevent, avoid and minimize accidents as much as possible, and AcuraWatch™ is the best system of collision mitigation technology that we have available. |