Fiat Wins Top Safety Award

Fiat Wins Top Safety Award

•        The safety system which automatically applies the brakes to avoid collisions.

•        The 'City Brake Control' function is active at speeds up to 30 km/h.

•        Available on demand on Fiat Panda and 500L.

Fiat has won the 'Euro NCAP Advanced’ award, which has been presented every year since 2010 to the car makers who equip their cars with cutting-edge safety systems which guarantee real benefits for road users,  for its new 'City Brake Control' which detects the presence of vehicles or obstacles in front of the car and automatically applies the brakes if the driver fails to do so in order to avoid the collision or to reduce its consequences.

'City Brake Control'  is an option on Fiat Panda and the new Fiat 500L which is set to arrive in New Zealand in 2014.

The 'City Brake Control' system was designed to provide assistance in city traffic and is always on when the car is moving at a speed from 5 to 30 km/h. Activated whenever the engine is started, the system can be deactivated and reactivated as the driver prefers.

The 'City Brake Control' system uses a LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) type laser sensor located on the upper part of the windscreen to interface with the ESC (Electronic Stability Control) system. Depending on certain parameters (such as road surface conditions, vehicle dynamics and trajectories, position of obstacles and condition of the tyres, etc.), the system can completely avoid or mitigate the consequences of a collision ('Collision Avoidance' or 'Collision Mitigation').

The sophisticated device integrates three functions: Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Prefill and Brake Assist. While respecting the wishes of the driver who remains in full control of the car, the AEB activates emergency braking when a collision appears inevitable and the driver fails to react, thereby actually anticipating his/her reaction. The "Prefill" function instead prefills the braking system to provide a quicker response both when Automatic Emergency Braking system cuts in and the driver brakes. Brake Assist, on the other hand, recognises emergency situations and - if the collision becomes more imminent - the system makes hydraulic brake assist function more sensitive, thus the braking pressure is boosted to provide a shorter braking distance.

ENDS

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