New cash-for-clunkers cars stop short on tech features

EL SEGUNDO, USA: While the US cash-for-clunkers incentive has been an overwhelming success in terms of spurring sales and retiring gas guzzlers, the most popular cars bought under the program are slightly below average in terms of their technology content, iSuppli Corp. reports.

According to iSuppli’s Technology Availability (TA) index, the Top-10 best-selling cash-for-clunkers cars score an average of 14.5, compared to 17.8 for all model-year 2009 autos in the United States. The TA score indicates how many infotainment and Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) are available for each model.

A range of car technologies is covered by the TA, comprising infotainment functions like navigation, iPod connections and satellite radio, to advanced ADAS features like park assist, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS), Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and telematics services such as General Motors’ OnStar,

“The low TA scores reflect the fact that buyers for the cash-for-clunkers cars are seeking smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, which tend to be low-end models,” said Mark Boyadjis, analyst and regional manager for North American automotive research for iSuppli.

“Despite the proliferation of more advanced technologies throughout carmakers’ lines, automakers still haven’t migrated all these features to these less-expensive vehicles.”

The table presents iSuppli’s TA index for the top-10-selling cash-for-clunkers models.Source: iSuppli, Aug. 2009

Cash for clunkers is no clunker
By August 5, the cash-for-clunkers program had sold more than 184,000 autos. General Motors accounted for 18.7 percent of those cars, followed by Toyota at 17.9 percent, Ford at 16 percent, Honda at 11.6 percent and Chrysler at 10.6 percent.

“The additional $2 billion that Congress allocated this month will bring the cash-for-clunkers sales to about 700,000 units when completed,” said Egil Juliussen, principal analyst and fellow for iSuppli’s Automotive Practice.

The attached table also presents sales for the Top-10 cash-for-clunkers cars in June and July. These 10 cars are different from the models that had the overall highest sales in July; note that the cash-for-clunkers program was only available for the last week of July. The total US auto sales increase from June to July 2009 was 16 percent.

From an environmental perspective, autos sold under the program had an average fuel efficiency of 25.3 Miles Per Gallon (MPG), a 60 percent improvement from 15.8 MPG for the traded-in models, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data through August 5.

Carbon dioxide emission reductions are proportional to MPG improvements, so the environmental impact appears very promising as well.

Infotainment features prevalent
While the top cash-for-clunkers models are far from being loaded from a technology standpoint, they do include some essential infotainment features formerly available only on higher-end vehicles.

Features such as satellite radio, Bluetooth connectivity and portable music device integration are widely available on the top-selling models under the cash-for-clunkers program.

All but one model offers Bluetooth connectivity, and three also include Bluetooth A2DP or audio streaming. All of the models offer satellite radio, either XM or Sirius, and six of the models offer USB inputs.

On the other hand, embedded telematics is largely absent from these vehicles, with only the OnStar-equipped 2009 Chevy Cobalt integrating this feature in the form on OnStar.

Ford vehicles offer mobile device telematics using the driver’s Bluetooth phone and have some telematics services, including turn-by-turn navigation, Automatic Collision Notification (ACN), and remote diagnostics programs.

“The Ford Sync option is a hit among Ford buyers and likely contributes to the overwhelming popularity of the top-selling Ford Focus,” Boyadjis observed.

HD Radio is only available on one model: the Ford Escape. This discrepancy is a result of the standardization and saturation of satellite radio in the automotive market, as well as the relative infancy of HD Radio technology in the automobile.

The safety features of the 10 models are much better than the trade-ins since every model has ESC and tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). Few of the Top-10 models have added driver assist systems—only two models had park assist and none had any other driver assist systems.

Can Europe cut road deaths in half by next year?

EL SEGUNDO, USA: The European Union (EU) and the European Commission (EC) have adopted the admirable goal of cutting the number of deaths on the region’s roads seen in 2001 in half by 2010.

But despite Europe’s aggressive initiatives that include the use of promising Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), this lofty goal is unlikely to hit its target, according to iSuppli Corp.

“The European Union in 2001 experienced 1,300,000 accidents, resulting in 1,700,000 injuries and 40,000 deaths,” observed Jeremy Carlson, researcher for ADAS and EMEA automotive at iSuppli. “Europe’s efforts up to this point have resulted in a 27 percent decrease in road deaths in 2008, which is certainly a noteworthy achievement. However, given the drawn-out EU decision process, the lengthy automotive product life cycle, and the fact that the only ADAS safety technology currently mandated is Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Europe is unlikely to reach this target.”

The EU and the EC have been active in proposing new initiatives to help accomplish its goal. Involving every entity from national governments to public authorities and private enterprises, the EC sought to bring together the individual stakeholders in order to share ideas and best practices, and to instill a sense of shared responsibility in this life-saving goal.

Many of these initiatives and discussions involve ADAS technologies, which include ultrasonic and camera park-assist, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and blind-spot detection systems.

European road safety charter
First among these initiatives is the European Road Safety Charter. The charter is the largest existing road safety platform, encompassing all 27 EU member states and including more than 1,100 public authorities and private entities as signatories. The charter invites public and private organizations to specifically and actively contribute to the realization of Europe’s auto safety goal.

Among the Charter’s efforts is encouraging the adoption of proven ADAS safety technologies.

Unfortunately, many safety technologies such as adaptive cruise control and blind-spot detection systems have not had the luxury of time and widespread availability to sufficiently prove they can reduce accidents or deaths.

As a result, many of these new ADAS solutions are relegated to research while the tried-and-true technologies such as seat belts and airbags find their way to the legislative front.

Currently, the European Road Safety Charter is pursuing a requirement for seat-belt reminders in passenger vehicles and now requires that all heavy goods vehicles be equipped with blind-spot mirrors on the passenger side to help protect bikers and pedestrians. The requirement of these side-object detection systems by the EC acknowledges the importance of blind-spot safety and could lead to the consideration of radar- and camera-based detection and recognition systems in the future.

The EC also has nominated driver monitoring, collision avoidance and mitigation, pedestrian protection, and visibility systems such as night vision as potential candidates for worthwhile research.

Roads, cars get smart
The Charter and other European initiatives involve the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The proposals could also lead to more navigation-enabled ADAS systems that benefit from mindfully-designed roadways.

Furthermore, the EC’s Intelligent Car Initiative formed in February 2006 was conceived to advance the use of intelligent technologies in automobiles to help make them smarter, safer and cleaner. Naturally, this initiative works side by side with the Charter to help achieve Europe’s goal, although it was not designed specifically for that purpose.

The Intelligent Car Initiative includes the eSafety Forum, which aims to accelerate the development and deployment of intelligent information and communication technologies by building consensus among industry stakeholders.

The latest research agenda from the eSafety Forum included insight into ADAS technologies, including collision avoidance. As a directive for future research and development, the results indicate that current collision mitigation systems should evolve into full-collision-avoidance systems with a focus on reducing costs for deployment in small- and medium-sized cars, although it provides no specific action to reach that goal.