Subaru Active Safety
Since the introduction of the Subaru 360, our first mass-produced car, Subaru has been working on producing safe vehicles with safety designed into every element of every vehicle. We call this All-Around Safety, and we divide it into four categories:
- Primary safety – improves vehicle safety starting from the design stage (click here to read all about it in Edition 1 of the Subaru magazine)
- Active safety – empowers you to better avoid danger
- Preventative safety – gives you an extra pair of eyes to watch out for hazards
- Passive safety – uses your car to protect you in case of an accident
We’ll share more information about preventive and passive safety in future issues, but first …
Subaru is known globally to be extremely safe and loads of fun to drive. How is this possible? By smoothly incorporating active safety features that optimise performance, increase safety and give drivers peace of mind for an enjoyable drive, every time. Keep reading to find out more.
Imagine your car reacting exactly as you intend it to, whatever the weather or road conditions outside. Thanks to Subaru’s Active Safety features, this is now reality. Active Safety has fine-tuned all the basic functions of your Subaru – driving, turning and stopping – for exceptional stability and predictable control. This includes the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive and the uniquely low-centre-positioned Subaru BOXER engine that help to keep passengers safe in the event of a front-end collision. Together, these features deliver the ultimate driving experience with greater safety.
Active Safety
Trust Subaru to deliver outstanding stability, superior traction and reliable drivability. Discover below how the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, the highly-rigid and lightweight body and the agile suspension system keep you safe.
Subaru’s Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system has superior weight balance and gives efficient distribution of traction and load to each wheel to limit the chassis rolling and pitching, increasing the ride comfort and making the journey enjoyable for all passengers. The system enables stable driving at all times, on all roads, and in all conditions.
…takes Subaru’s All-Around Safety one step further by incorporating new technologies and functions that make driving safer today and tomorrow. Our active safety efforts have led to top-of-class hazard avoidance performance thanks to the Subaru Global Platform achieving significant enhancement to the body and chassis rigidity. This results in less body roll, less deformation and increased collision impact energy absorption.
The Subaru’s refined engine shape ensures enhanced and smooth driving performance, especially when swerving sharply to left or right, for superior accident and hazard avoidance.
The front suspension uses a longer stroke design to enable the car to better follow the contours of the road surface for better stability and outstanding steering response. The rear suspension steadily absorbs shocks and keeps tyres firmly perpendicular against the road surface. The front and rear suspension systems support each other a safe and reliable drivability while providing supreme ride comfort.
Driving into a slippery corner on a snowy or wet day, turning through the corner and heading out smoothly isn’t always easy or predictable. Luckily, Subaru cars include a number of functions to help keep you and your family safe under unexpected road conditions.
VDC prevents your car from skidding due to a loss in stability by constantly monitoring driving conditions, including the steering angle, engine speed, gear selection and the brake position. It controls the brakes if the car starts behaving irregularly, activating when the car is about to slip sideways when cornering.
In addition, the Active Torque Vectoring function takes risk aversion capabilities a step further. When navigating a corner, VDC applies brakes to the inner front wheel to provide optimum drive power relative to the outer wheel. The outer tyres turn smoother, which in turn increases steering capability. The car responds faithfully to the driver’s steering input, which helps avoid objects on the road or danger when needed.