Automatic collision avoidance system in manual cars

[bk7794]

Recently I saw a Mazda commercial equipped with that automatic collision avoidance system or some bs. I then began thinking, how would they implement that technology into cars with a manual transmission. I began thinking of maybe an electronic clutch. Similar to what they did with the gas pedal. Probably could then add variable clutch stiffness and all that.


What are your thoughts?

[Rope-Pusher]

Clutch release requires more power and energy than throttling

[theholycow]

I'm not familiar with the system. What does it do, exactly?

Unless the automatic collision avoidance system accelerates, they can just ignore gear selection. A stalled engine is better than a collision.

[bk7794]

It uses sensors on the front of the vehicle to detect stopped traffic and does calculations and slams on the brake if it detects a possible collision.

[Boston Fit]

Auto-slamming the brakes in a m/t car seems like a bad idea because it would stall the engine and defeat emergency re-acceleration if needed. But I say this as someone who knows nothing about cars mechanically, so someone please set me straight if I am mistaken.

[Shadow]

Auto-slamming the brakes in a m/t car seems like a bad idea because it would stall the engine and defeat emergency re-acceleration if needed. But I say this as someone who knows nothing about cars mechanically, so someone please set me straight if I am mistaken.

Depends on the situation. Consider a scenario where you're driving at highway speeds and the system brakes for you to avoid a collision. The engine wouldn't stall until the RPM dropped down under idle speed, which is to say less than maybe 800 RPM. Most stickshift drivers would instinctively depress the clutch pedal anyway, avoiding a stalled engine.

I'm not sure if you've ever had to do a panic stop, but I have on a few different occasions. In all instances, without thinking about it, I stepped on the clutch pedal. In a panic stop, your reflexes take over, so you're not really consciously thinking about your actions. That said, I'm not sure if I stood on the brake pedal and the clutch pedal at the same time, but my guess is that I stood on the brake pedal hard and then stepped on the brake pedal when the revs dropped. I say that because I find myself doing that all the time (without thinking about it) when I brake normally. It's just a reflex. When I'm braking, I don't look at the tach or think about the revs falling too low, yet when the time comes, I instinctively press the clutch pedal to avoid stalling the engine. I'm sure most of you do the same, no?

[potownrob]

DFCO FTW??

[ClutchFork]

It uses sensors on the front of the vehicle to detect stopped traffic and does calculations and slams on the brake if it detects a possible collision.

I can see major problems in winter during snow or ice conditions. Also what if it has a false read and slams on the brakes when it does not need to, thereby causing you to be rear ended and possibly beat up by the irate driver who thinks you jumped on the brakes to mess with him? No thanks. The solution is not automatic collision avoidance systems, but for drivers to put down the cell phones, texting, magazine, shaver, etc, and pay attention.

[six]

Don't see the value, everyone comes with a collision avoidance system already:



Unless, of course, it's defective. If that's the case, you shouldn't be driving.

[Rope-Pusher]

Don't see the value, everyone comes with a collision avoidance system already:



Unless, of course, it's defective. If that's the case, you shouldn't be driving.

Fickset

Precisely! Millions of defective people are driving without their brains being engaged. This will be good for the folks that they would otherwise crash into, but it will be bad for the folks driving while distracted, as they will never suffer the pain and anguish as the result of that collision that would have taught them the cause and effect relationship between their lack of attention and what results from lack of attention.
We learn our lessons best when something happens that is so painful that we vow to never let it happen again.

As Click and Clack so wisely professed:

"The reason there are so many traffic accidents is that there aren't nearly enough traffic accidents!"

(If an accident occurred every time we did something that one, or two, would think would be most likely to cause and accident, we would stop doing those things. It's the fact that we get away with those behaviors unscathed that prevents us from feeling the effects and learning the lessons)

[theholycow]

(If an accident occurred every time we did something that one, or two, would think would be most likely to cause and accident, we would stop doing those things. It's the fact that we get away with those behaviors unscathed that prevents us from feeling the effects and learning the lessons)

I once read a well-reasoned rant on why we shouldn't call them "accidents" at all. I wish I could find or reproduce it. I will certainly not convince anyone with a half-assed recollection of a vague memory. What I remember is that the word "accident" removes the feeling of responsibility, as well as doing more direct injustice when reasonable actions would have prevented it. Since then I mostly use "crash" or "collision".

I found this one but it's much more whiney, less logical, less strong, appears to come from a source with a larger agenda, and the site is not designed well:
http://transalt.org/newsroom/magazine/2012/Summer/2

Related:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commut ... aths/4935/

[bk7794]

I just wonder if this will be a technology that the federal government will mandate. Sort of like traction control and the tire pressure monitoring system. I just wonder what they will do with the clutch pedal. Maybe it'll be a system sort of like the abs system. Where it can still be hydraulic but the computer can still take over in case.

[Shadow]

I just wonder if this will be a technology that the federal government will mandate. Sort of like traction control and the tire pressure monitoring system. I just wonder what they will do with the clutch pedal. Maybe it'll be a system sort of like the abs system. Where it can still be hydraulic but the computer can still take over in case.

Nah, I can't see that ever happening. Mostly because manual transmission are such a small percentage of cars on the roads. If car makers were forced to build in technology that tie in with the clutch pedal engagement, I could see them just dropping the manual transmission option altogether. Either way, I do think true manual transmissions will die out eventually. I don't know when, but I do believe that's the direction we're headed.

[Rope-Pusher]

I just wonder if this will be a technology that the federal government will mandate. Sort of like traction control and the tire pressure monitoring system. I just wonder what they will do with the clutch pedal. Maybe it'll be a system sort of like the abs system. Where it can still be hydraulic but the computer can still take over in case.

I would devise an explosive charge, using solid rocket booster technology, to pressurize the HCRS lines so that the release bearing is rammed into and permanantly lodged in the clutch cover belleville spring. It will become common practice to replace the clutch release system after every accident, just like we do with airbags and seatbelt pretensioners - have an accident, get a new clutch!

[theholycow]

I would devise an explosive charge, using solid rocket booster technology, to pressurize the HCRS lines so that the release bearing is rammed into and permanantly lodged in the clutch cover belleville spring. It will become common practice to replace the clutch release system after every accident, just like we do with airbags and seatbelt pretensioners - have an accident, get a new clutch!

The same explosive charges already used for the aforementioned airbags and pretensioners?

And it would be after every avoided collision due to system activation as well as after collisions.

I really don't see the problem though. Driver can declutch or not, the brakes stop the car either way. If the engine is not running after the car has stopped, so be it. Those drivers who failed to declutch may be exposed to secondary crashes that other drivers could avoid but it is most likely that other drivers would no more avoid those crashes anyway; someone is all shook up, frozen post-adrenaline, everything just happened in front of him, and he's going to look behind to see that he needs to drive the hell outta that situation? Sure, some will (perhaps many of those here), but they are the same people who will prevent the engine from stalling when the system activates anyway.