IN THE BAY
20 Fleet Maintenance | March 2018
he role of any vehicle safety system is to help mitigate
the chance of encountering unforeseen issues
while the vehicle is in operation. While vehicle
safety technologies are not yet 100 percent eff ective,
some are able to reduce collisions by up to 90
percent within fl eets, according to Fred Andersky,
director of customer solutions for the controls
group at Bendix.
Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems (bendix.com)
develops and supplies active safety technologies
for medium duty and heavy duty vehicles
throughout North America.
“One fl eet told us that one year they had 10 rearend
collisions,” Andersky says. “Th ey added the
collision mitigation technology, and the next year
they had one collision.”
Each accident adds considerable fi nancial
burden to a fl eet when costs due to injuries,
deductibles, downtime and potential loss of freight
are taken into consideration.
“Th e cost of accidents is extremely high, and
trends of increased driver distraction and growing
congestion on highways are only increasing
the risk of an accident,” says Ash Makki, product
marketing manager for heavy truck and engine
manufacturer Volvo Trucks North America
(volvotrucks.us). “Companies see the value of
safety systems that can help professional drivers
prevent an accident.”
Th anks to a proven track record in accident
mitigation, more fl eets are considering implementing
vehicle safety systems on their vehicles.
In a recent Fleet Maintenance reader poll on braking
systems, 19 percent of respondents reported
that they are already using some form of collision
avoidance system on vehicles, and another
9 percent are considering the adoption of these
safety systems in their fl eet.
Passive and active
safety systems
Th ere are a variety of vehicle safety systems that
work independently or in conjunction with one
another. While most people are familiar with more
common systems such as seat belts, air bags, traction
control and anti-lock brakes (ABS), new technologies
have emerged in the past two decades
that provide more real-time information and can
even take a more eff ective role in keeping drivers,
and others around them, safe.
Th ese safety systems must be able to detect
changes in order to react and provide the driver
with information. To do this, vehicle safety
systems incorporate a number of sensors and
cameras to monitor the vehicle. (For more details
on diff erent types of sensors, see “Th ere’s a sensor
for that” sidebar on page 24.)
Vehicle safety systems fall into one of two categories:
passive and active.
Most passive safety systems use visual or audible
warnings to alert the driver of an impending
event such as a collision, an object in the vehicle’s
Technology
to keep your
fl eet safe
T
A look at the latest commercial
vehicle safety systems.
By David Brierley, Managing Editor
VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY
» Forward view cameras and radar sensors are two
technologies used in today’s vehicle safety systems.
Photo courtesy of Volvo Trucks North America
/bendix.com
/volvotrucks.us