Automakers turn to safety to sell cars

Paul A. Eisenstein

“Safety doesn’t sell,” or so went the conventional wisdom of the auto industry. But don’t try telling that to Ford Motor Co.’s Sue Cischke, who thinks it may be a more important marketing tool than just about anything — including fuel economy.

Cischke, the Detroit automaker’s “safety czar,” was on hand last week for the rollout of the automaker’s latest technological wizardry, which combines the advantages of both a seat belt and an airbag. Dubbed the inflatable belt, it will begin appearing on Ford’s next-generation Explorer SUV when it launches in mid-2010 and eventually will roll out “globally,” said Cischke.

She suggested the inflatable seat belt system will not only enhance the safety of both young and elderly back-seat passengers — who tend to have disproportionate rates of accident injuries — but also give Ford a distinct marketing advantage.

The Ford executive isn’t alone. Motorists are demanding safer cars, and that means ever more advanced technology designed not just to make it easier to survive a crash but to prevent an accident in the first place, said Samir Salman, CEO of Continental Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of the giant German automotive supplier.

Automobiles, he noted, have come a long way since the first rudimentary safety systems —starting with the basic lap belt — became mandatory in the U.S., back in the 1960s. The basic structures of today’s cars, trucks and crossover vehicles are designed to absorb crash forces, effectively cocooning passengers. The most advanced vehicles are outfitted with an assortment of active safety systems designed to prevent crashes and passive devices, like airbags, to reduce injuries if an accident does occur.

The payoff is clear. In 2008, about 37,000 Americans were killed in highway accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, down from more than 43,000 in 2005. This year the total is projected to drop to about 35,000, “and we haven’t even started with technology," Salman said.

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Continental and its German rival, Bosch, helped usher in a major change in the approach to safety 20 years ago, with the launch of the first active safety technology: anti-lock brake systems, or ABS. Simple by today’s standards, the technology measured wheel spin to prevent skids and allow a motorist to steer around obstacles, even on icy roads.

ABS begat traction control, which made it easier to get a grip when starting up on slippery roads. That, in turn, led to stability control, which uses a vehicle’s brakes and computer throttle controller to avoid skidding on slippery roads.

There are now all sorts of variants, like VDIM, offered on Lexus products, which can also control steering and even the firmness of the vehicle’s shock absorbers, to help maintain stability in aggressive maneuvers.

And yet another revolution is getting under way, as the newest “smart” cars begin to get a glimpse of the world around them.

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