Automakers Could Consider Sacrificing Safety Ratings To Avoid Annoying Technology

The verdict seems to be clear from modern vehicle owners: advanced driver assistance and driver monitoring systems have gotten really annoying, with automakers like Toyota beginning to install the features on more and more new models. In Europe, many of these safety features are now mandatory under fresh regulations, and they do help give a boost in the vehicle safety ratings. Now, some European automakers are weighing the loss of some of that safety rating in return for turning off some of the nuisance systems, but it’s likely going to be easier said than done.

Is This Chinese Startup ‘Cheaping Out?’

It really shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s a startup talking about cutting the technology out of its cars. You should immediately think that the company is just trying to cut costs at the expense of consumer safety, but that can’t be the case, at least not in Europe, thanks to modern regulations. Modern cars must include features like speed limit recognition and warning, back-up camera and/or sensor assistance, driver attention monitoring, lane keeping assist, blind spot detection, and more. The most annoying, from customer feedback, appear to be the speed limit warning and driver monitoring systems, which are the most consistent and invasive with their alerts.

Now, Chinese startup Leapmotor – which has an affiliation with Stellantis – would like a way to have customers have a choice over these features, whether it’s a shift in regulation requirements, or simply turning the features off by default, and having them be opt-in systems still available to customers who want them. The automaker’s head of Euro marketing, Francesco Giacalone, says they would be willing to suffer the loss of a single Euro NCAP safety rating star on some models to keep the annoying features at a minimum. “Maybe we need to sacrifice one star to deliver the right product to the customer, with the full content of useful and life-easing technology? That could be the right choice,” Giacalone said.

No Compromise On Quality

The exec elaborated on his thoughts further:

“Of course, we will not go to the extreme of the spectrum where we launch a car that has no active safety, and the passive safety is crap. All vehicles from Leapmotor are engineered with high-strength stainless steel on the side and in the frame, so the cabin is strong, and there’s lots of airbags. All those elements will be there. Just maybe, to achieve the five-star rating, you need some active safety which not all consumers equally appreciate,” he said. “Then, either you make a compromise in that little last mile and probably that will cost you a star – that could be the case – but there’s no compromise on the broad security of the car.”

– Francesco Giacalone

Leapmotor recently introduced a new drop-down menu in the infotainment system for quickly deactivating certain features on its C10 crossover, which was a response to some early critics’ reviews. It would likely take a change in regulations to have these features off by default, but it could also apply to decisions made by automakers in other markets to skirt regulations and take the safety penalty, like in the U.S. and China.

2:14

Related

The History And Rise of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS)

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are the next big step up from the common active safety systems of yesteryear.

Source: Auto Express