2011 Buick LaCrosse Earns NHTSA Five-Star Overall Safety Rating

Highest possible overall vehicle score for safety achieved in new, more

stringent testing
2011-04-25

DETROIT – The 2011 Buick LaCrosse received a five-star overall safety rating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s New Car Assessment Program (www.SaferCar.gov), the agency has announced. Starting with 2011 models, NHTSA has introduced tougher tests and more rigorous requirements for its five-star ratings that provide more information about safety feature performance and crash-avoidance technologies.

The LaCrosse received five-star ratings for both the Overall Frontal Crash and Overall Side Crash. These crash test ratings are intrumental in helping prospective car shoppers evaluate the safety performance of new vehicles.

“Car buyers today want the peace of mind that comes with buying a vehicle they know will help protect their family,” said Tony DiSalle, vice president of Buick marketing. “This five-star overall vehicle score for safety shows Buick can equip an affordable luxury midsize sedan with top safety features.”

The LaCrosse offers these safety features:

■Intelligent technologies delivering a “360-degree” field of vision behind the steering wheel for a greater feeling of comfort, control and safety
■Side blind zone alert technology notifying the driver if a vehicle in adjacent lanes is traveling in the driver’s blind spot
■Rearview camera system featuring a display integrated into the navigation system screen
■Front- and side-impact air bags as well as roof-mounted head-curtain air bags that help protect occupants in the event of a rollover crash
■An advanced front-seat safety belt system including a dynamic locking latchplate, dual pretensioners that help tighten the safety belt for earlier restraint of the occupant during the onset of moderate to severe crashes; and load limiters that help limit the forces on the occupant to help reduce the risk of injury
■GM’s StabiliTrak stability- and traction-control system
■OnStar (included for the first year of ownership)
GM engineers developed the dynamic locking latchplate, which is part of the front safety belt system. It locks under dynamic crash loading to help securely restrain the occupant’s pelvis, and it works in concert with the safety belt load limiting feature to control loads on the occupant’s upper torso. This safety feature helped the LaCrosse achieve the five-star frontal crash rating for both driver and front-seat passenger.

About Buick

Buick is a modern luxury brand offering vehicles with sculpted designs, luxurious interiors with thoughtful personal technologies, along with responsive-yet-efficient performance. Buick is attracting new customers with its portfolio of award-winning models, including the Enclave crossover, LaCrosse sedan, Regal sport sedan and highly anticipated all-new 2012 Buick Verano compact luxury sedan. Buick is the fastest growing major brand in the U.S. and remains a best-selling brand in China, with continuing record growth. Learn more about Buick cars and crossovers at www.buick.com, on Twitter @buick or at www.facebook.com/buick.

Curbing Driver Distraction

Here are 9 technologies the industry says will help

Charles Child
Automotive News -- January 31, 2011 - 12:01 am ET

 

To prevent driver distraction, Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation, says guidelines are coming to control how drivers handle the Internet and cell phones.

But limitations on the connected car threaten to stifle a potentially lucrative infotainment business, which is eager to bring a wealth of services into the car: e-mail, texts, stock quotes, Internet surfing, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Automakers and suppliers say that they have a solution: advanced technology. Voice commands, for instance, can limit or prevent driver distraction -- and keep drivers' eyes and attention on the road.

Do automakers and suppliers make a good case for their technology, which might prevent tough regulations? Check out the following sample of nine methods that they say limit distraction.

'I'm driving right now'

Who: OnStar

What: OnStar is testing an application to bring Facebook into the car. Facebook and standard text messages are received by a driver's smart phone and relayed wirelessly to the car and its speakers. Before getting behind the wheel, a driver can set his smart phone to block messages and send a message to senders: "I am driving right now and cannot reply."

How it limits distraction: Drivers are unaware of incoming messages, which are stored.

Listen to Facebook posts

Who: Harman International

What: Stereo maker Harman is pitching to automakers Aha Radio, which beams Internet signals from a driver's cell phone to a car's center console. The system reads Facebook messages to drivers with text-to-speech technology.

How it limits distraction: Drivers hear messages and don't use hands and eyes to operate their Internet-connected smart phones.

Use the center console

Who: Continental AG, Nokia Corp.

What: Internet applications, such as navigation and Internet radio, are received on a smart phone and beamed wirelessly to the center console or a screen in front of the passenger. Continental says it is discussing the technology with potential customers.

How it limits distraction: Drivers can, for example, switch radio stations on the center console easier than on a smart phone.

Disable the cell phone

Who: T-Mobile USA

What: For $4.99 a month, cell phone company
T-Mobile disables most texting and calling features to certain cell phones in a moving car.

How it limits distraction: No text or call, no distraction.

Hands off that cell phone

Who: Ford Motor Co.

What: Sync, Ford's infotainment system, reads text messages out loud to drivers. The texts are received by cell phones and relayed to Sync.

How it limits distraction: Hearing a text message is safer than using eyes and hands to operate a cell phone while driving.

Listen to texts later

Who: Ford Motor Co.

What: By pushing a "Do not disturb" button on four vehicles, drivers send incoming cell calls to voicemail and texts to storage. The feature is available on the 2011 Ford Edge, Lincoln MKX and Ford Explorer and the 2012 Focus with Sync and MyFord Touch or MyLincoln Touch.

How it limits distraction: The driver is not interrupted. The voicemails can be heard and texts can be read later.

Pull over to browse the Web

Who: Toyota Motor Corp.

What: Toyota prevents drivers from using some Internet features that are too distracting. For example, with the Entune application, drivers can conduct only Internet searches relevant to driving, such as for gasoline stations. Other searches must be conducted when the car is parked.

How it limits distraction: Searching while parked is safe.

Eyes straight ahead

Who: Denso International

What: A head-up system displays information in front of the driver on the windshield. An undisclosed automaker will introduce Denso's system in North America.

How it limits distraction: The motorist won't have to glance down at a console or a cell phone. Eyes remain on the road.

Less strain on the brain

Who: Toyota Motor Corp.

What: Drivers use natural speech, such as "Find local gasoline stations," to conduct Internet searches. They don't need to memorize a tree of voice commands, such as "retail" and "gasoline stations." The searches are conducted by a smart phone wirelessly connected to the car's center console with an application called Entune, which will be available first on the Toyota Prius V this summer.

How it limits distraction: Natural speech reduces mental strain, allowing drivers to concentrate on the road.

2011 Honda Accord Sedan Earns Best-Possible 5-Star Overall Vehicle Score in More-Stringent Federal Government New-Car Assessment Program

11/12/2010 - TORRANCE, Calif.

The 2011 Honda Accord Sedan has earned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) best-possible Overall Vehicle Score¹ of five stars, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today.

Helping the Accord achieve the top score were five-star ratings for overall frontal crash safety, overall side crash safety and rollover resistance. The Accord is one of only six vehicles to achieve a five-star Overall Vehicle Score to date, and is the first to achieve five stars in each of the three ratings categories: 5-star frontal crash rating, 5-star side crash rating (combined results of side barrier and side pole) and 5-star rollover rating.

The newly introduced Overall Vehicle Score is part of the federal government's more stringent New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) that is first being applied to 2011 models. As a convenience to new car shoppers, the Overall Vehicle Score represents the combined results of the overall ratings from the frontal crash tests, the side crash tests² and the rollover-resistance³ into a single, summary score between one and five stars.

Revised for 2011, the frontal crash safety test incorporates a crash dummy representative of a small-size female in the front passenger's seat and, as before, an average-size male crash dummy in the driver's seat.

The side-crash safety evaluations continue to include the side-barrier test used previously where a moving barrier strikes a stationary vehicle at an angle. However, a new side-pole test has been added where a moving vehicle strikes a stationary pole barrier. Ratings are provided for both of the individual seating positions in the side-barrier crash safety test, as well as a combined rating for both positions, while the side-pole rating is based on a test of the frontal seating position only. The front seating position side barrier crash safety test result also is combined with the side-pole crash safety test result for a front seat side impact rating, with the results of all of the tests combined into an overall side-crash safety rating.

The side-barrier crash test now implements a combination of male and female crash test dummies, with the male positioned in a front seating position (as before) and the small female (new) in a rear seating position.

The newly introduced side-pole crash test exclusively uses the small female crash dummy in a front seating position.

Honda Accord Gets The Best Possible Safety Rating!

Honda Motor Co.'s Accord received the best possible safety rating among 2011 model-year passenger cars tested for crashes under new U.S. evaluation standards, edging ahead of Toyota Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. sedans. The mid-size Accord, Honda's top-selling U.S. model, got an overall five-star rating, according to results posted on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website. Of 40 models tested so far, six rated five stars overall. The Accord is the first to get five stars in each of three crash categories tested by NHTSA.

Source: Autonews.com

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