Gadgetory

now forward-collision technology sprang from the loins of adaptive cruise technology which uses a device like this either radar or laser sensor looking out in the traffic ahead of you to maintain a set distance to that traffic not just a set speed and it does that by operating the accelerator and the brake okay I'm on the freeway in this Infiniti qx80 I'm set 259 on adaptive cruise but traffic ahead of me is starting to slow down and sure enough accelerator comes off the brakes go on a bit maintains my gap and now traffic opens up we're heading back up to target speed 259 and target gap it really works and it's kind of eerie forward collision just takes that same experience we had on the road and Divis it up into two flavors first there's a warning only version that's a car that's going to detect you're closing on something too fast and give you beeps or flashing lights or typically both then there's the kind that intercedes the prevention flavor of technology that will do all the above and we'll jump on the brakes all the way to a full stop now for those of you who are averse to having any machine drive for you know that in production today I've never seen a car that doesn't let you defeat the forward collision technology but it wouldn't surprise me if in the near future it becomes a mandated on kind of like anti-lock brakes it turns out forward collision technology and all of its flavors actually works some better than others a recent study by the highway loss data Institute found about a 14 percent reduction accident claims among cars that have the kind of forward collision tech that gets on the brakes for you quite a bit less improvement in those that only warn and now for the first time the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is giving ratings to cars based on their forward collision tech not just on the other more passive safety technologies we're familiar with the good news is a lot of cars are offering this technology now and getting really good scores the bad news is an awful lot of cars are getting fair to mediocre scores so forward collision tech is not the same card a car now what's in the future the next big evolution of this forward collision technology can be exemplified and let's say Cadillacs coming supercruise where the car will read what's ahead hit the brakes use the accelerator steer come to a complete stop if need be and resume acceleration do all of that in city speed traffic that's getting awfully close to a self-driving car so if you're looking at a car that has forward collision tech they're these three shopping tips in mind first of all know that the kind of forward collision tech that can hit the brakes for you is more effective than that that just gives you a warning beep secondly look at the ratings on cars that have this tech they don't all operate the same and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just begun to grade them finally look at a package that may also roll in blind spot and lane departure tech along with forward collision it might be a better value and it certainly should provide you a little more security