Ford Introduces the Collision Warning with Brake Support

Ford Collision Warning with Brake Support

Following the high end car makers’ approach of the market, Ford decided to push some of the new technological safety feats to some of its more common models. Thanks to the radar systems that help current day cars to achieve Adaptive Cruise Control, Ford thought of putting it to work in other areas to.

The result is the Collision Warning with Brake Support system. This radar derived technology is now available on the new Taurus, Lincoln MKT and MKS models. What the system does is to monitor the 325 feet area in front of it and send feed-back to a computer.

The computer then decides which objects in its path are regarded as threats or non-threats. Steven Kozak, Chief Engineer, Ford Global Safety, told auto123.com that “the radar unit in question is a new, third-generation Delphi unit, that also sees duty in fighter jets”.

With the radar system capable of identifying 64 objects at a time, it functions by determining which of the “targets” could pose a potential collision threat. The system reacts by sending an alert state to the driver, characterized by a strong beep and a warning light projected on the windshield right over of the dashboard.

If the the risk of impact increases after the alert state, the system then enables the Brake Support phase. This phase is comprised of two actions: it first fully pressurizes the braking system and second it brings the calipers as close to the discs as possible without braking.

Although the system can be modified for automatic braking, Ford didn’t designed it this way, but thanks to the Brake Support stage, the driver achieves better braking power and shorter deceleration distances.

Steven Kozak noted that most of the drivers don’t want computers taking over and regarded the system in talk as taking a “walk before running” approach.