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Subaru focuses EyeSight on Liberty (396)

<Subaru’s long-term safety commitment is highlighted by its decision to add the award-winning EyeSight™ driver assist system to every variant of the new generation Model Year 2015 Liberty, on sale in January 2015. Sixth generation Liberty will have the latest version of EyeSight, which adds brake light recognition, pre-collision steering assist and an approximately 40 per cent improvement in distance and wide angle range, to its already impressive credentials. The system uses stereo cameras mounted at the top of the windscreen, capturing “live” images of the road ahead – helping car and driver to react instantly to potentially dangerous situations. This can help prevent collisions, or reduce impact damage.  Subaru Australia Managing Director, Nick Senior, said: “Safety has long been an elevated focus at Subaru and that’s been consistently recognised by high five-star occupant safety ratings right across our range from the independent Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

“EyeSight driver assist takes our safety commitment even further, potentially preventing collisions or reducing the severity. “One of the nicest parts of my role are the emails, calls and letters from customers expressing gratitude for the great Subaru engineering that has saved them in dangerous situations and EyeSight has only increased that level of communication.” He added: “Another hidden benefit of EyeSight is that, if a collision does occur, the position of the cameras helps avoid potentially costly damage to them. Some competing systems have sensors and equipment located right at the front of the car, including the grille, and this can be an expensive repair exercise.”   

Improvements to EyeSight fitted on new Liberty will include:

• Pre-Collision Braking – augmented with braking assistance.
• Pre-Collision Steering Assist – if the possibility of collision with a vehicle or obstacle in front occurs, Vehicle Dynamics Control activates to assist the driver in potentially avoiding it.   
• Adaptive Cruise Control – improved performance when a vehicle cuts in front of the car during traffic jams and on highways. There are four levels of inter-vehicle distance setting.
• Overall performance improvement – uses latest 3D image processing for easier recognition of lateral and distant vehicles, stabilizing control in all speed zones and improving pedestrian pre-collision detection.
• Logic Improvements - contributes to better system operation, helping maintain performance in bad weather conditions.
• Structural revisions - Cameras are positioned closer to the windscreen to reduce cabin intrusion.

In Australia, EyeSight has attracted insurance premium reductions for vehicle owners from Allianz and IAG, while last month in Japan three Subaru models equipped with EyeSight were awarded top ratings in a new type of assessment conducted by the Japan New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP).

The Advanced Safety Vehicle-Plus (ASV+) rating was awarded to Japanese domestic specification versions of the Subaru Forester, XV Hybrid and Levorg wagon. From a potential maximum rating of 40 points, Levorg scored a perfect 40 points, Forester 39.9 and XV Hybrid 39.3, meaning all three won ASV+ designations with distinction. Other international acclaim for EyeSight included a maximum six point rating in Front Crash Prevention (FCP) tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the United States. The superseded Subaru Legacy sedan (Liberty in Australia) and Outback were the only vehicles to receive the top rating.

In 2012, EyeSight won a prestigious Japanese government science and technology award. The five Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) engineers who developed EyeSight received the prize for Science and Technology 2012, Development Category, from Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Full details of new generation Liberty will be announced during December.