NHSTA's latest attempt to save us all..

[Rick]

NHTSA CONSIDERING AFTERMARKET DIGITAL PUSH

By: Stephen Barlas

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be making a decision this year about whether to initiate a rulemaking requiring some degree of digital connectivity in new cars.

Any action will be based on the lessons the department learned in its Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Model Deployment in Ann Arbor, Mich. The pilot model has been going on for a few years. The idea is to provide next-generation safety features that carry vehicles out of the "protecting drivers from a crash" era that opened with NHTSA's creation in 1970 to a new era where crashes are prevented.

In May, David Strickland, the NHTSA Administrator, told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee that any NHTSA requirements that new cars come with advanced technology such as lane departure warnings would not bring immediate benefits to drivers. "It will take some time for the vehicle fleet to turn over," he said. In an effort to bring the benefits of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety systems more quickly to drivers his agency might mandate the use of what he referred to as "aftermarket beacons."

He didn't actually use the word "mandate." Rather, he said, "The other part we are looking at is the provision of aftermarket beacons so the people can actually put their beacons in their cars and get benefits immediately." Strickland did not specify the kinds of beacons he was referring to. But a NHTSA spokesman, when asked for details, forwarded a NHTSA brochure that talks about "'simple' communications beacons that are brought into the vehicle. All systems and devices emit a basic safety message 10 times per second that forms the data stream that other in-vehicle devices use to determine when a potential traffic hazard exists."

It is not clear how NHTSA could influence aftermarket requirements, or whether it has the authority to do so. But beacons and other aftermarket technology are being tested in Ann Arbor.

"Attractive aftermarket devices, developed with the active support of the automotive manufacturers, are needed to expand access to safety and mobility benefits and increase the density of deployment of the platform," said Peter Sweatman, director, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). "These devices will need to have the active support of automakers. Further field testing of aftermarket devices will also be needed."

More in article:
http://www.searchautoparts.com/afte...-distribution/nhtsa-considering-aft?cid=95879

 

[Anime]

Further field testing of aftermarket devices will also be needed.

Yeah, it sure will.

I doubt this will take off until it's implemented in driverless cars, and since they will have the tech to know where they are on the road, they will also be interconnnected through that system so they can know their vicinity to other driverless vehicles.

For 'portable' beacons, or ideas such as using this system on smartphones you bring into the vehicle with you, there's a HUGE safety risk if the so-called warning causes a driver to react - and prompty crashes into another vehicle the system didn't know about because that driver didn't have a beacon.

The same is going to be true of driverless cars for some time too, they will have to manually be able to avoid collisions with cars that have drivers and don't broadcast their location electronically or have anything to do with the driverless system.

 

[delexploder]

Maybe they can get together with the GPS license plate people, what a bunch of crap,

 

[Kiliona]

Could we start a "shut down the NHTSA" coalition?

imagine the havock that would wreak. I mean my backup beeper already goes on the frits every time I pull into a parking lot or driveway or whenever I pull a trailer, Imagine if that obnoxious frantically beeping light actually had the power to stop my vehicle every time it came within a few feet of another vehicle. Much less, within a few inches which is very necessary sometimes to pull in and out of my tight driveway.

Also where I live some of the roads in old town were built for horses and buggys, meaning they are very narrow. I could imagine the traffic jams caused when cars couldn't get close enough to eachother on the narrow roads to pass and the "beacons" prevented them from moving.

Accidents and collisions are almost never the cars fault, so why are we blaming the car? Why don't we instead crack down on uninsured/unlicensed drivers, and push for better drivers ed courses. That would lower the death-rate much more then these silly electronic aids that just get in the way.

Maybe I'm just stubborn though, Heck I won't even drive an automatic because I feel like it's taking my freedom as a driver away and that automatic transmissions never know what the heck to do and when to do it.

 

[Rick]

Accidents and collisions are almost never the cars fault, so why are we blaming the car? Why don't we instead crack down on uninsured/unlicensed drivers, and push for better drivers ed courses.

Because the technology is available and a lot of people stand to make a lot of money. That pretty much explains why all this crap is going into new cars.

There is also a fantasy of a zero fatality roadway... A fantasy which can be turned into reality as technology improves and mega-dollars are thrown at it.

 

[Brian1]

I drove a new 2014 Silverado last week and it had some of that newfangled technology in it. The lane departure warning was the most annoying thing I have ever had in a vehicle. It would vibrate the left or right of the driver seat to warn you. First time I drove it was down a twisty 2 lane canyon road and I couldn't find the off button fast enough! It also had collision detection which I didn't mind as much.

 

[Rick]

Collision detection = keeping your head on a swivel

 

[Stic-o]

I've been saying it! In my lifetime I will be illegal to drive a car "manually".

It this day in age, with cars that all have gps, digital maps and self driving capabilities, there is no need for humans to drive. If all the cars know where the other cars and objects are, you eliminate accidents almost completely. You driving, make the world unsafe. You may say that's not fair, and what about your rights. But they will say it not fair to the everyone else. Cars as we know it will be in a museum.

Sad times

and don't worry, the same story is coming to your poor food choices. We're all on the same health plan now, which means you eating bacon, makes it more expensive for everyone.

WAKE UP PEOPLE! We're all like frogs in a pot right now...and the temperature keeps rising.

 

[corkey]

why don't they allow us to teach people to drive,instead of treating licensing like the cash cow it is ??

i once saw that a dog got a drivers license somewhere,,
that means all they care about is the money, not whether or not people can actually drive,,

 

[Stic-o]

why don't they allow us to teach people to drive,instead of treating licensing like the cash cow it is ??

i once saw that a dog got a drivers license somewhere,,
that means all they care about is the money, not whether or not people can actually drive,,

That's the problem. ..youth today doesn't want to drive. They want to be delivered so they can go on with there phone or tablet.

 

[jprentice94]

That's the problem. ..youth today doesn't want to drive. They want to be delivered so they can go on with there phone or tablet.

I'm 19 so I hang out with some of those people you can't even talk to them for 2 minutes bugs the hell out of me

 

[Rick]

why don't they allow us to teach people to drive,instead of treating licensing like the cash cow it is ??

Who would keep traffic courts clogged? If they didn't have "sin taxes" AKA speeding tickets, etc they would have to raise taxes.

Politicians find it easier to craft more and more laws, all of which have fines associated with them, than to raise revenues through taxation. Sin taxes first - Across the board taxation only when all else fails.

You know when they teach people to drive in AZ? After they get a ticket they get sent to "defensive driving class". In AZ drivers ed isn't mandatory. You can learn to drive on your own, or from parents who may be lousy drivers themselves.

 

[Bobmbx]

It is amazing how much the 'government' fears the citizens. Now they want to be able to not only track, but take control of your car while you're driving...sorta like a universal Lojack system.

"Oh look....there's Bob, and we notice he hasn't signed up for Obamacare yet. Shut off his car, and send an emergency registrant assistant to his location ASAP"

 

[Bwana Bob]

Could we start a "shut down the NHTSA" coalition?



Maybe I'm just stubborn though, Heck I won't even drive an automatic because I feel like it's taking my freedom as a driver away and that automatic transmissions never know what the heck to do and when to do it.

Me, too. My 92 Explorer and my 2010 Focus both have manual transmissions. I tell people that I don't know how to drive an automatic [which is true to an extent, because whenever I drive an automatic and try to accelerate onto a highway, the thing downshifts into 2nd gear, the engine screams, and it still won't accelerate]. Alas, Ford and most everybody else dropped manual transmissions from their product lines.

Bob

 

[Rick]

Only 1 out of 5 of our vehicles has an automatic transmission. The only reason for that that is because my wife has a bad knee on her clutch leg. Otherwise they would all be manual.

Nothing like coming up to a stoplight in an automatic equipped vehicle only to put your left foot through the floor when you think you still need to push the clutch in

 

[4WDriver]

It's all very frustrating to me. The only electronic assist I believe has a place in any vehicle is ABS. A good 4-wheel ABS system can do things the driver physically can't, such as control each wheel independently as traction conditions require (imagine you go across some black-ice and only one wheel has good traction. ABS can actuate just that one and allow the others to freely roll, thus maintaining traction and avoiding inducing a skid). All other electronic "driver assists" just attempt to replace proper skill and attentiveness of the driver.
My girlfriend's 2013 Ford Focus has a bunch of those crap electronic systems. Traction Control is useless to a real driver, all you have to do is pay enough attention to know when your drive wheels spin, and back-off the throttle a bit. atleast the Traction Control can be turned off, the Electronic Stability Program - NOPE! the ESP is may work well for what it is designed, but it can NEVER replace proper driving skill! The false sense of security these systems inspire in most people is absolutely FRIGHTENING to think about. Picture someone flying down the highway at 75 mph in the snow and icy condiotions because they think, "Stability control will keep me safe". Furthermore, the advent of these assists means people feel like they'll never need to learn how to properly control their vehicle, like recovering from a skid, or the proper speed to slow down to for taking curves or turns. I haven't even touched on the stupid lane-departure and active brake-assist crap! All those systems do is attempt to conpensate for drivers who don't pay proper attention to their driving! even in the commercial for one of them, it shows a lady rubber-necking at a wreck on the side of the highway, the system alerts her with an audible and visual warning that braking is needed due to the stopped traffic in front of her, she STILL pays no attention, so the system takes over and brakes for her, avoiding the collision. The IDIOT woman then snaps back to reality and stomps the brake AFTER the vehicle has already come to a stop! What's more, she has her kids in the vehicle with her!! What is going to happen when people start relying on these systems, and they fail?? The average driver already pays little enough attention to their driving, we don't need to encourage them to pay even LESS! I'm not against the "self-driving" car, however. I believe that EVERYONE should be required to use ONLY a self-driver unless they can pass a MUCH more strict driver's ed and licensure test. Although, before this happens, the self-driving system should be as thouroghly tested as possible, work completely self-sufficiently (meaning, it reacts to it's environment, not needing input from other vehicles or systems to tell it where it is or what to do), and not be introduced in steps or pieces (like Active Brake Assist, or Lane Departure Warning), only as a whole self-driving system.

Bottom line: If you don't WANT to drive, DON'T!!! there are plenty of other options already available, nobody "needs" to drive. Take a bus, a cab, hire a chauffer or charter car, or hell, wait 'til Google comes out with their self-driving car software!

sorry about the rant, just been wanting to get that off my chest for a long time (soooo many idiots on the roads these days...

 

[delexploder]

It's all very frustrating to me. The only electronic assist I believe has a place in any vehicle is ABS. A good 4-wheel ABS system can do things the driver physically can't, such as control each wheel independently as traction conditions require (imagine you go across some black-ice and only one wheel has good traction. ABS can actuate just that one and allow the others to freely roll, thus maintaining traction and avoiding inducing a skid). All other electronic "driver assists" just attempt to replace proper skill and attentiveness of the driver.
My girlfriend's 2013 Ford Focus has a bunch of those crap electronic systems. Traction Control is useless to a real driver, all you have to do is pay enough attention to know when your drive wheels spin, and back-off the throttle a bit. atleast the Traction Control can be turned off, the Electronic Stability Program - NOPE! the ESP is may work well for what it is designed, but it can NEVER replace proper driving skill! The false sense of security these systems inspire in most people is absolutely FRIGHTENING to think about. Picture someone flying down the highway at 75 mph in the snow and icy condiotions because they think, "Stability control will keep me safe". Furthermore, the advent of these assists means people feel like they'll never need to learn how to properly control their vehicle, like recovering from a skid, or the proper speed to slow down to for taking curves or turns. I haven't even touched on the stupid lane-departure and active brake-assist crap! All those systems do is attempt to conpensate for drivers who don't pay proper attention to their driving! even in the commercial for one of them, it shows a lady rubber-necking at a wreck on the side of the highway, the system alerts her with an audible and visual warning that braking is needed due to the stopped traffic in front of her, she STILL pays no attention, so the system takes over and brakes for her, avoiding the collision. The IDIOT woman then snaps back to reality and stomps the brake AFTER the vehicle has already come to a stop! What's more, she has her kids in the vehicle with her!! What is going to happen when people start relying on these systems, and they fail?? The average driver already pays little enough attention to their driving, we don't need to encourage them to pay even LESS! I'm not against the "self-driving" car, however. I believe that EVERYONE should be required to use ONLY a self-driver unless they can pass a MUCH more strict driver's ed and licensure test. Although, before this happens, the self-driving system should be as thouroghly tested as possible, work completely self-sufficiently (meaning, it reacts to it's environment, not needing input from other vehicles or systems to tell it where it is or what to do), and not be introduced in steps or pieces (like Active Brake Assist, or Lane Departure Warning), only as a whole self-driving system.

Bottom line: If you don't WANT to drive, DON'T!!! there are plenty of other options already available, nobody "needs" to drive. Take a bus, a cab, hire a chauffer or charter car, or hell, wait 'til Google comes out with their self-driving car software!

sorry about the rant, just been wanting to get that off my chest for a long time (soooo many idiots on the roads these days...

yup

 

[jprentice94]

It's all very frustrating to me. The only electronic assist I believe has a place in any vehicle is ABS. A good 4-wheel ABS system can do things the driver physically can't, such as control each wheel independently as traction conditions require (imagine you go across some black-ice and only one wheel has good traction. ABS can actuate just that one and allow the others to freely roll, thus maintaining traction and avoiding inducing a skid). All other electronic "driver assists" just attempt to replace proper skill and attentiveness of the driver.
My girlfriend's 2013 Ford Focus has a bunch of those crap electronic systems. Traction Control is useless to a real driver, all you have to do is pay enough attention to know when your drive wheels spin, and back-off the throttle a bit. atleast the Traction Control can be turned off, the Electronic Stability Program - NOPE! the ESP is may work well for what it is designed, but it can NEVER replace proper driving skill! The false sense of security these systems inspire in most people is absolutely FRIGHTENING to think about. Picture someone flying down the highway at 75 mph in the snow and icy condiotions because they think, "Stability control will keep me safe". Furthermore, the advent of these assists means people feel like they'll never need to learn how to properly control their vehicle, like recovering from a skid, or the proper speed to slow down to for taking curves or turns. I haven't even touched on the stupid lane-departure and active brake-assist crap! All those systems do is attempt to conpensate for drivers who don't pay proper attention to their driving! even in the commercial for one of them, it shows a lady rubber-necking at a wreck on the side of the highway, the system alerts her with an audible and visual warning that braking is needed due to the stopped traffic in front of her, she STILL pays no attention, so the system takes over and brakes for her, avoiding the collision. The IDIOT woman then snaps back to reality and stomps the brake AFTER the vehicle has already come to a stop! What's more, she has her kids in the vehicle with her!! What is going to happen when people start relying on these systems, and they fail?? The average driver already pays little enough attention to their driving, we don't need to encourage them to pay even LESS! I'm not against the "self-driving" car, however. I believe that EVERYONE should be required to use ONLY a self-driver unless they can pass a MUCH more strict driver's ed and licensure test. Although, before this happens, the self-driving system should be as thouroghly tested as possible, work completely self-sufficiently (meaning, it reacts to it's environment, not needing input from other vehicles or systems to tell it where it is or what to do), and not be introduced in steps or pieces (like Active Brake Assist, or Lane Departure Warning), only as a whole self-driving system.

Bottom line: If you don't WANT to drive, DON'T!!! there are plenty of other options already available, nobody "needs" to drive. Take a bus, a cab, hire a chauffer or charter car, or hell, wait 'til Google comes out with their self-driving car software!

sorry about the rant, just been wanting to get that off my chest for a long time (soooo many idiots on the roads these days...

I agree up until self driving vehicle all i can say is hell no i love the freedom of driving and if im going to crash i would rather it be my fault or another persons fault then a computer. It would basically be a video game. When i get bored i get in my car and drive th as t wouldnt work it with a self driving car

 

[4WDriver]

I see where you're coming from, Jprentice94, and I must say, I agree with you. But what you're saying shows you ARE one of the ones who'd pass the stricter tests, and pay proper attention, since you would be WANTING to drive, chances are you'll do a much better job at it than someone who'd rather be texting or paying attention to everything else other than their driving. I do understand even the best of us are not perfect drivers, there will still be wrecks, but nowhere near as many. As far as the self-driving cars, I did say they shouldn't release it until it is as near perfection as possible, and ensure if it fails, it will fail "safe". I have no idea whether that is even possible, or how long it would take to get technology there, but, that should be the goal. And as far as anyone who'd be worried about the government losing a major source of revenue, sure, they would, but they'd be better-off financially due to LOADS of extra costs associated with responding to all these problems and messes the wrecks cause, being gone. I.E. they make less, but spend even less. Not to mention, there would be a lot of new high-paying job opportunities to maintain all the self-driving cars. I probably sound like some sort of utopian nut now, eh well... lol

 

[jprentice94]

I see where you're coming from, Jprentice94, and I must say, I agree with you. But what you're saying shows you ARE one of the ones who'd pass the stricter tests, and pay proper attention, since you would be WANTING to drive, chances are you'll do a much better job at it than someone who'd rather be texting or paying attention to everything else other than their driving. I do understand even the best of us are not perfect drivers, there will still be wrecks, but nowhere near as many. As far as the self-driving cars, I did say they shouldn't release it until it is as near perfection as possible, and ensure if it fails, it will fail "safe". I have no idea whether that is even possible, or how long it would take to get technology there, but, that should be the goal. And as far as anyone who'd be worried about the government losing a major source of revenue, sure, they would, but they'd be better-off financially due to LOADS of extra costs associated with responding to all these problems and messes the wrecks cause, being gone. I.E. they make less, but spend even less. Not to mention, there would be a lot of new high-paying job opportunities to maintain all the self-driving cars. I probably sound like some sort of utopian nut now, eh well... lol

You are very smart lol i didnt even think about the govt b.s. and ill admit i have texted and drove which is stupid for me to do. The biggest thing i learned when i was learning to drive was you are going to get in a wreck it just happens but its a matter of when.