Nissan Envisions Cars Communicating With Cars To Eliminate Crashes

On the heels of the 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan being awarded a Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Nissan’s Bob Yakushi spoke with the Media Center about the future of product safety.

Yakushi discusses a collaborative relationship with other OEMs that is studying a vehicle-to-vehicle, or vehicle-to-infrastructure, communication system – all with the goal of achieving a zero-accident vision for the future.


Q1: What is Nissan’s vision for the future of safety, with regard to vehicle development?

A1: Nissan has a vision of ultimately having no accidents and no fatalities. And so to accomplish that type of ultimate goal, we have Nissan’s Safety Shield. This concept addresses normal driving when a risk hasn’t appeared, a risk has appeared, a pre-collision risk, the collision itself, and then post-collision. And so, what we are doing is trying to individually address all of these areas with different types of technologies and features on our vehicles.

For example, we have forward collision warning, we have lane departure prevention and lane-departure warning, we have a blind spot intervention and also now back-up intervention on a vehicle. So, by applying these different technologies, we can form different layers around the vehicle to help mitigate the risk of crash and the risk to passengers and drivers.


Q2: Where’s the next breakthrough for vehicles and safety?

A2: For the last 25 years we’ve been focused on passive safety – our zone body construction, multiple airbags to help mitigate and reduce injuries in the event of a crash. Where are headed is how to try to avoid the risk of a crash. So, in that area we have looked at vehicle dynamic control, many of the advanced technologies, such as forward collision warning, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, rear collision intervention. But, ultimately what we want to do is be very predictive.

How can we do that? Well, how about cars talking to cars, vehicle-to-vehicle communications. As we move in that direction, ultimately this type of communication between vehicles can help mitigate and reduce the risk of injury. We are working pre-competitively with other OEMs to develop a vehicle-to-vehicle, or vehicle-to-infrastructure type communication system to help go toward that zero accident vision that NISSAN has.


Q3: We’ve heard a lot about back-up cameras – but, really, they aren’t a safety aid, can you explain?

A3: Rear-view monitors that we have equipped on our vehicles are not meant as a safety device. They are intended to be used as a parking aid to help you get into that tight parking space or to look for a fixed object you might run into. For dynamic situations such as people or animals moving in and out of the rear area around your vehicle, that environment changes very quickly. You shouldn’t just rely on that rear-view monitor but you should be checking to see what is around you so you can safely back up your vehicle.


Q4: Summer will be here soon, and people will be on the roads traveling, what are the top three things we can do to ensure safety for our passengers and other travelers?

A4: Spring is coming up, summer is coming up and one of the most important thing you can do when you go on vacation or a trip is wear your seat belt. And that is a primary restraint system in your vehicle and really, airbags are supplemental to help you in the event of a crash. So, wear your seat belt all the time, don’t text on your phone – that is a distraction and against the law now in a number of U.S. states.

When it comes to your most precious cargo, your children or other children, make sure they are properly restrained in a child-safety restraint system appropriate for their age, size and weight. Remember, wear your seat belt, don’t text when you are driving and the obvious one, don’t drink and drive.
Nissan USA

NISSAN VERSA SEDAN EARNS TOP SAFETY PICK FROM IIHS

Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) awarded the 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan a “Top Safety Pick” rating. The rating is given to vehicles that achieve the Institute’s highest rating of “Good” for front, rear and side impact protection, earn a “Good” rating in the roof strength test and are equipped with electronic stability control.

“Nissan remains committed to the highest levels of safety and innovation, as is reflected in the Nissan Versa Sedan receiving the Top Safety Pick from IIHS,” said Brian Carolin, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Nissan North America, Inc. “The 2012 Versa provides customers with a remarkable level of value, comfort and security for an MSRP starting under $11,000.”

Every 2012 Nissan Versa Sedan comes equipped with six standard air bags, Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake force Distribution, Brake Assist and Vehicle Dynamic Control with Traction Control System.
Nissan USA

Nissan LEAF Blazes New Trail for Bluegrass Underground

“I just can’t be happy since you went away…”
Bluegrass legend Del McCoury is crooning one of his classic laments, as a video camera on a 20-foot jib swoops over the stage and across an enthusiastic audience.

“…I keep searching for happiness, though it seems I never win.”

McCoury has been performing since the 1960s and has sung this song countless times before. But, this time, it’s different.

He is more than 300 feet underground with a full TV production crew, a dozen other musical acts and 500 of his closest friends. They are taping a new season of “Bluegrass Underground,” sponsored on PBS by Nissan, on location in the Cumberland Caverns of Warren County, TN.

The video, lighting and sound gear required for this production can’t be hand carried into the cave. Vehicles are needed to traverse a long, constricted dirt passageway with steep inclines. But, off-road four-wheelers pollute the still air of this unique environment.

“Bluegrass Underground” producer Todd Mayo observed that it took 3 million years for nature to form the Cumberland Caverns, and now that it is being filled with music, it is important to be “in harmony” with the world down there.

“Bringing combustible engines into the cave to get the gear and our artists into the cave has been a problem,” said Mayo. “Now we have a solution.”

The 100% all-electric Nissan LEAF is an answer because it emits no emissions for the cave or the performers to absorb, and for the crew and audience to inhale. Carrying McCoury into the cave for his performance, the LEAF traverses the rock passageways with only inches of clearance on each side and, in spots, above. With an incredulous smile, McCoury describes his trip underground as the strangest ride of his life and praised the LEAF’s handling.

Sara Schaffer, a bassist for the David Mayfield Parade, had not ridden in an electric car before, not to mention underground.

“It makes it a lot easier for all of us to breath which is cool, and I like it better than the four wheelers because of the (lack of) noise,” said Schaffer. “You could be slipping in and out with people not even noticing. It’s really neat.”

Violet lights bathe the rock walls all around as the Del McCoury Band performs its American roots style of music.

“If you don’t want me,” sings McCoury, banjo and fiddle galloping in pace with his old guitar, “I’ll dry my tears and move on.”

Cumberland Caverns once stored civil war gunpowder. Moonshiners have used it, and now an electric car moves musicians and equipment in and out of this historic monument.

And, earlier, as McCoury stepped out of the LEAF and marveled at the ancient environment into which it brought him to perform, he had mused about this unexpected experience: “Guess only my music stays the same.”

Nissan USA

Nissan Undertakes Yearly Emergency Drill Ahead of March 11 Anniversary

Japan Earthquake Updates Newsroom

With its global headquarters in Yokohama as command central, Nissan conducted its annual emergency response drills Monday with crisis simulation exercises.

Coming just days before the one-year anniversary of the disasters of March 2011, some 50 employees in the headquarters were involved in the drills, including staff at the Oppama plant in Kanagawa prefecture and various domestic sites of transmission supplier JATCO.

Such business contingency drills have become an essential part of the company’s crisis response preparations since the 2007 Niigata earthquake.

Last year's 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of northeastern Japan put Nissan’s disaster response teams into high gear.

Within minutes, the crisis management committee was up and running with Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga leading the Global Disaster Control Headquarters.

"After these type of disasters occur, the company should know that employees' safety is first. We should also know about the safety of the suppliers, dealers or our affiliated companies and then how to restore operations," explains Shiga. “This process [aims] to prioritize and to make a decision — through this type of training drills we can easily understand the priority and not panic.”

Thanks to practice drills that took place only weeks earlier, response procedures were clear and quickly implemented.

In the months that followed, the crisis management committee continued to tackle aftershocks that affected production recovery, while the experience stressed the importance of regular preparation.

"This company has been doing this every year, for the last five or six years,” says Nissan Senior Vice President Hitoshi Kawaguchi, referring to the importance of regular drills. “Once you prepare yourself for all kinds of disasters then you don't panic, and I think that's quite important for us to be well-trained for natural disasters like a great earthquake or anything which could damage the company's operations.”

Nissan's rapid response to the March 11 disasters helped the automaker to recover faster than industry peers, while emergency response drills in Japan are seen as a template for similar preparation plans across the globe.

All-New 2013 Nissan Altima Coming Soon

Nissan has released a video clip and image offering a glimpse of the bold design of the all-new 2013 Altima sedan in advance of its world premiere at the New York Auto Show in April.

The Altima is built at Nissan’s assembly plants in Smyrna, Tenn. and Canton, Miss. The engines for Altima are built at the company’s Decherd, Tenn. plant. Altima is the second best-selling car in the United States.