Safety Wars: Nissan to Add Standard Crash-Prevention Feature to Majority of 2018 Models

In the 1950s and 60s it was the horsepower war, followed soon after by the fuel economy battles of the 1970s and 80s. Today, the peace of mind that comes from available safety features competes with horsepower, environmental sensitivity and connectivity to win the hearts and minds of new car buyers.

Owning a vehicle that can head off a crash by itself is a tantalizing prospect for many drivers. With the industry already heading in that direction, Nissan has decided to add automatic emergency braking as standard equipment on eight of its 2018 models.

Announced today, AEB will come to the bulk of Nissan’s lineup for the 2018 model year. That includes the Rogue and Rogue Sport, Murano, Altima, Maxima, Leaf, Pathfinder and Sentra — effectively doubling the number of Nissan vehicles with the feature. For those unfamiliar with the technology, AEB uses radar to judge the proximity and speed of the vehicle ahead, applying the brakes if the driver fails to respond

There’s an asterisk next to the Sentra, however. Manual transmission and NISMO models will not come with the feature. As well, select Armada models will offer AEB, but it won’t be standard across the range. Bad news for Versa buyers, not to mention Frontier, Titan, 370Z and GT-R shoppers, but Nissan doesn’t plan to stop the technology’s proliferation.

The automaker is among a group of car companies — representing virtually all light-duty vehicles sold in the U.S. — who agreed last year to install AEB in all models by September 1, 2022. Regulating the safety feature into all vehicles would have taken an extra three years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stated. The agency believes standard AEB will reduce collision-related insurance injury claims by 35 percent.

“This increased AEB availability is part of our ongoing commitment to help reduce fatalities while realizing our comprehensive vision of Nissan Intelligent Mobility.” said Michael Bunce, vice president of product planning at Nissan North America, in a statement.

[Image: Nissan]