Digital hold-out Dacia will drop its opposition to advanced driving assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control and include them on the “next-generation” of cars, CEO Denis Le Vot has said.
Dacia has resisted incorporating the latest ADAS technologies as it tries to maintain the low-cost ethos of its model range, but it's being forced to include many of the sensors that enable them in the latest round of European Union-mandated safety regulations starting in July 2024.
“Our job is to define what is essential at the moment in time and this is evolving. Adaptive cruise control will be part of the new generation,” Le Vot said. He confirmed that the EU’s General Safety Regulations 2 (GSRS) have prompted the change.
Le Vot didn’t say which cars would gain the tech first, but GSR2 mandates that emergency lane-keeping assitance, intelligent speed assistance (which monitors speed limits and adjusts speed accordingly) and driver-drowsiness detection will all become mandatory, requiring sensors that can be repurposed to include additional technology such as adaptive cruise without too much extra cost.
Le Vot didn’t put a cost on having to include the additional tech.
The first Dacia likely to gain adaptive cruise control is the Bigster compact SUV arriving in 2024, which will compete in a much higher price segment than that in which Dacia is normally found.
Subsequent overhauls of the Jogger MPV could bring the tech on board, while the Sandero hatchback will probably wait until it's replaced in 2028.
Dacia said at the launch of the Jogger in 2021 that it excluded electronics even to the detriment of lower Euro NCAP safety rating, which awards points for the fitment of advanced driver assistance system.
“Five-star cars are so complicated sometimes that people don't understand how to use the device and the functionality, so we're confident and happy with what we have,” product manager Andreea Guinea told Autocar.
Dacia is increasingly winning over new customers as they become priced out of their first-choice cars. Le Vot said the number coming from used cars had declined from 50% to 34% now, without giving a timeframe.
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So because we have too many stupid and unnecessary distractions such as touch screens with many levels of controls built in, we have now got to the stage that we have to add more electronics to actually what is happening outside the vehicle as we are potentially too distracted to do it ourselves. No doubt this serves the majority of manufacturers as this will maintain the steady demand for new cars. This seems to be mirroring the increasing size of cars from the 1970s onwards with built in protection to protect occupants from the larger cars. We are getting to the stage where the life of a car will be getting shorter and shorter as the cost of replacing electronics and sensors outside the warranty period will become so prohibitive. The mechanics of the car will still be sound but basically useless because of electronic failure.
I had a virtually brand new courtesy car recently and was annoyed to find the intrusive lane keep assist defaulted to on each time the car was started requiring a 5 second hold of a button to disable it each journey. In my own car of the same make you can go into the menu and change it to default off, I actually still activate it quite often on the motorway, the only place these systems really work. no such option existed on the new car. My wife's car defaults to autostop being active, its an auto gearbox and autostop makes it too unpredictable to safely get out of busy junctions as nothing happens until you press the gas and the engine has to start and the gearbox engage just in time - hopefully! first thing we do on getting in is disable it. Again no default choice of off.Its getting really annoying the nanny state of taking away choice on many systems.
Agree 100%. The first time I drove my car after buying it from the dealer I kept feeling the steering pulling the car in odd directions. As soon as I had the chance I disabled the Lane Assist function - one of the most annoying bits of technology ever invented. Re the Auto stop-start, I also disable it every time I start the car as it annoys the hell out of me, luckily it is just a button right in front of the gear lever so easy enough to do. Ironically, I have recently started turning it back on as the area where I live (mid Sussex) has been swamped with roadworks for months, and I have found myself spending an eternity sat at red lights!
Nanny State! The what i was looking for
Mandatory Dacia Story reply: (Fleece on for writing this)
Ah, rubbish, too many driver assist functions, can't people just watch the road, this is driving up the cost of motoring and adding needless cost to a great car. Rar, when I was still fit enough to drive, I just used my wits and 3 bits of wood to be safe. One was for feeling the kerb, one to keep the headlining up, the last was a deterrent for various nefarious ous's's
In summary, bah, I hate change and modern things. I miss Rover really...
When you were still fit enough to drive there was a man who walked in front of you waving a red flag!