Meritor WABCO officials estimate the OnGuard Collision Mitigation System has helped prevent approximately 2,000 fatal or injury accidents in the 10 years top US fleets have been equipping their trucks with the technology.
Additionally, fleets equipped with OnGuard report a reduction in rear-end collisions up to 87% and up to 95% reduction in the cost of rear-end collisions, according to Matthew Stevenson, president and general manager, Meritor WABCO. The adoption of OnGuard has nearly quadrupled in the past five years, growing to 130,000 systems on the road and embraced by more than 70% of the top 50 for-hire fleets. As the number of OnGuard systems increase, the number of injuries, fatalities and crashes continues to decline, Stevenson added.
"First to market in 2007 with an active braking collision mitigation system, OnGuard has far exceeded accident-reduction projections by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration," he said. "Every day in the past 10 years, the system has proven its worth as truckers have driven it across billions of miles of North America highways. With the launch of OnGuardACTIVE in 2016, we now address 20% of the truck accidents that occur on stationary objects, further improving accident-reduction rates."
At a recent Senate Commerce hearing on surface transportation, Christopher Lofgren, chief executive officer and president of Schneider National, said his company has experienced a 69% decrease in rear-end accidents and 95% reduction in rear-end accident claims since it began equipping all new tractors with OnGuard in 2012.
"The reality is, if you look at the dramatic improvements in rear-end accidents that we've had as a company since we put the OnGuard technology in, it speaks for itself," Lofgren said. "There is so much evidence to say that this (system) needs to be a part of what is hauling freight today."
OnGuard is a forward-looking, radar-based active safety system that is always on, continuously monitoring speed, range and range rate of vehicles traveling ahead. It offers collision warnings and collision mitigation with active braking, as well as adaptive cruise control. The OnGuard Collision Mitigation System detects objects ahead and measures the vehicle's position in relation to others on the road to warn the driver of a possible rear-end collision by delivering audible, visual and haptic warnings.
Rear-end crashes represent approximately 30% of fatal accidents. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, more than 80% of rear-end crashes can be prevented or made less severe through the use of collision mitigation systems.