Midsize cars better equipped than premium cars in Germany: Bosch

As per the findings from an evaluation of the 2017 statistics on newly registered cars by Bosch, 55 percent of the newly registered compact and midsize cars in Germany come equipped with at least one parking assistance system as standard. In contrast, this figure is only about 25 percent for premium vehicles. Overall, 45 percent of newly registered cars across all vehicle classes in Germany have at least one parking assistance system fitted as standard.

The analysis shows that parking assistance systems top the list of desired features in Germany, followed by automatic emergency braking systems. When a rear-end collision is imminent, these systems help either avoid it or mitigate its consequences. 

The European Union is currently preparing legislation to mandate the installation of emergency braking systems. This would mean that all new vehicle models will have to have such a system on board starting in 2022. The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29), which is part of the UNECE, has drawn up a regulation that creates the conditions for this. The forum recommends that only passenger cars featuring an emergency braking system should be marketed in the EU and other countries in the future.

The UN Economic Commission for Europe estimates that emergency braking assistants could save 1,000 lives a year in the EU. Of all the new cars registered in Germany in 2017, 54 percent were fitted with such an emergency braking system, up from just 38 percent in 2016. The evaluation of statistics on newly registered cars from 2017 also revealed that, in addition to parking and braking assistance systems, two others are increasingly finding acceptance: drowsiness detection and lane-keeping functions. Nearly half of all new cars can detect when the driver is drowsy, and more than one in three cars comes equipped with at least one lane-keeping system.

Furthermore, just under one-fourth of cars feature adaptive cruise control (ACC), and 9 percent of newly registered cars in Germany already have a partly automated traffic jam assist system. This helps drivers relax in congested traffic by instructing the car to automatically follow the vehicle in front. It also takes control of starting and accelerating, and brakes and steers within its lane.

Dr Dirk Hoheisel, member of the Bosch board of management said, “More and more car buyers want a vehicle that anticipates and even intervenes in driving maneuvers. These driver assistance systems aren’t just cool gadgets that make driving more convenient – they can save lives.”