Nissan to offer new safety features, drunken driving prevention tests

[Guchi_Jnr]

Some Nissan cars will soon come with a gas pedal that lifts to warn of possible collisions, while the cars will automatically stop if drivers take their foot off the accelerator in response to the warning.

The technology combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car's speed and distance to a vehicle in front of it, Nissan Motor Co. said. Cars with the new safety features will be available this year in Japan and next year in the United States.

Nissan also showed an experimental system that measures alcohol levels in a driver's sweat from sensors in the gearshift. The system stops short of locking the ignition but issues a warning in an electronic voice.

The car also recognizes if a driver is drifting between lanes, and comes with a computerized camera that monitors blinking to check if a driver is drunk or drowsy.

More practical is the lane departure prevention technology, which swivels a car back into its lane if it swerves off. The lane technology is being offered later this year in the U.S. on the Infiniti EX luxury model.


An alcohol-sensing gearshift in a Nissan concept car samples a reporter's perspiration to determine sobriety at the carmaker's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Monday.

Almost tempting to drink drive, just to see if all this works..

[jkpark78]

cooool.. but don't they sell those alcohol breatherizer(?) test thingy at local pharmacy for like $40?

[JohnStar]

I think some of these things are good if say you buy a car for your child or something. Then they can't drive it drunk . Or if you are really smashed it will stop you driving.

I am sure they would test it enough so you wouldn't need to test drive drunk hehe.

[kukine]

I imagine in the future a 5 year old kid will also be able to drive a car equipped with loootss other safety features like this.