Key Benefits of Collision Mitigation

Three Ways Idealease and Bendix® Have Your Drivers’ Backs

Earlier this year, Navistar announced all new heavy-duty trucks will ship with the Bendix® Wingman® Fusion™ system as standard equipment—an important upgrade that has us excited for both our customers and their fleet managers.

In 2018, approximately 70% of Navistar’s LT® series were ordered with some form of collision mitigation system; the majority of which were Bendix Wingman Fusion. So, there is a good chance that many of your drivers are familiar with the name, but maybe not all of the benefits.

Let’s take a look at what these new upgrades are and how they help protect your drivers.

Wingman Fusion is the most advanced and comprehensive safety system on the market. It builds on the already robust set of features from the previous generation by combining fully integrated radar, camera, and braking controls. Many functions may be familiar, but there are significant improvements that are worth noting:

• Collision Mitigation
  • Stationary Vehicle Braking alerts the driver up to 3.5 seconds—and applies the brakes—before a possible impact with an in-lane, stationary, motorized vehicle

Enhanced Collision Mitigation removes up to twice as much vehicle speed as current systems

• Alerts
  • An Overspeed Alert sounds when the system determines the truck is moving too fast as the camera reads speed limit signs in real time, at above 20 mph
  • Alert prioritization minimizes distractions by sounding only the most critical alert during severe events
  • Lane departure alert is given through an audible “rumble strip” sound, to advise the driver of any unintended lane departure

• Full SafetyDirect Integration
  • Bendix’s web portal, SafetyDirect®, offers fleet managers direct communication with the vehicle, allowing camera changes without touching the truck

The biggest benefit of all comes from the collective, full system integration that allows every feature to work together seamlessly by constantly gathering, sharing, and confirming information in real time. It’s a level of performance and accuracy systems built from individual components simply can’t match.

Check out our sell sheet (Bendix Wingman pdf) below for a complete overview of all safety features, or dig even deeper into the technical details here.

Safety technology is also getting a big push at the Federal level.

At the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) annual Management & Conference in October, former Administrator Ray Martinez introduced a new project to promote Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This two-year effort involves promoting technology that aims to improve driver safety by utilizing advances in automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings, and blind-spot monitoring.

ADAS has experienced impressive penetration into consumer vehicles beyond the luxury market. At the same time, the inclusion of ADAS makes its own case for commercial vehicles, as they are significantly larger and heavier than their consumer counterparts, have more compromised visibility, and greater annual mileage.

The ADAS promotion project is a collaborative effort between the FMCSA and industry partners, such as the ATA and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), who will lead efforts to distribute educational materials promoting ADAS among fleet owners, owner-operators, and other commercial driver’s license holders.

All ADAS currently in use will be tracked by the FMCSA, as will industry-wide adoption rates. They will also be monitoring the overall safety benefits and the impact of their partner’s outreach efforts.

We will update you here with new information as it becomes available.