|
The luxurious Infiniti EX35 will help its driver keep it in the lane
(Orlando Sentinel, The (FL) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 17--In 1990, Toyota launched its luxury brand, Lexus, in the U.S. market, and Nissan launched its luxury brand, Infiniti. Since then, Infiniti has battled for the same sort of marketplace recognition that Lexus has long enjoyed.
This year, that level of recognition has increased, and it's due to a rather unlikely vehicle: The Infiniti EX35, a late-arriving 2008 model sport-ute based on the same platform as the popular G35 coupe and sedan. But while the EX35 is a rather spectacular SUV, much of the recognition has been directed not so much at the vehicle -- not even its revolutionary "scratch shield" paint, which uses a soft coating that can actually "heal" small scratches when left in the sun for several days -- but toward some startlingly innovative safety technology.
The EX35, starting price $34,850, is loaded with the sort of safety gear you'd expect -- multiple air bags, anti-lock brakes and adaptive headlights that turn as the vehicle steers -- but it's the EX35's optional "Around View Monitor" (AVM) and "Lane Departure Warning" (LDW) that are getting most of the attention.
Monitors (which typically double as the in-dashboard screen for navigation systems) that are able to show a live picture captured by a camera are not new: Many vehicles have them mounted in the rear, so drivers can see obstacles when reversing, or for aid in backing up to a trailer. And several vehicles have lane-departure warning systems that sound some sort of alarm when the onboard detectors note that the vehicle is drifting to one side or the other, outside its lane.
But the EX35 takes both features to the next level. The Around View Monitor makes use of cameras mounted in the front grille -- inside the Infiniti symbol -- on the rear hatch, and just beneath both outside rear view mirrors. These images flash onto the dashboard monitor, and the driver can actually press buttons to direct which camera is in use. While parallel parking, for example, you can see a camera view from the side of the curb, and of the vehicles parked in front and behind. More conventional sonar systems beep as you draw close to an obstacle.
Press another button, and the monitor shows a bird's eye view of the vehicle, seen from above, which uses actual images of the obstacles that may surround the EX35 on all four sides. The cameras work only when the vehicle is stopped or driving at a walking pace -- Infiniti doesn't want the driver to fixate on the monitor when he or she should be looking out the windscreen.
Once the driver learns to trust the cameras and the distances they suggest -- we learned that trust by gently backing into soft shrubbery, to determine how accurate the cameras are -- parking in the tightest spaces becomes a simple matter. The system may not be as fancy as the one offered on the Lexus LS luxury sedan that actually steers the car into a parallel parking spot, but it's much more practical. (The Lexus won't attempt the maneuver unless there's so much room available in the spot that an average driver would have no problem parking there even without assistance.)
The EX35's Lane Departure Warning system is similarly innovative. While several competitors offer a system that uses one or more cameras to read the painted lines on each side of a lane on the road and sound an alert when the vehicle begins to drift over a painted line, the EX35 can take that one step further: Press a button, and not only does the LDW sound a beeping alarm, but an onboard computer gently activates the brakes on one side of the vehicle to pull it back into the proper lane.
Drift right, for instance, and the LDW brushes the left brakes. Though the steering wheel does not turn, the EX35 steers ever so slightly left until you are back inside your lane. It is neither abrupt nor upsetting, and if you use turn signals to announce a lane change, it doesn't operate. It is also gentle enough to be easily overcome if you intentionally steer into another lane. If the painted lines are faint, or quite wet, the system may not work at all.
It is, Infiniti claims, just one more layer of protection, though a spokesman rankles at the suggestion that some have made, saying the LDW "is the drunk's best friend."
Taken as part of a very comprehensive package, the LDW may be one part of a solution to what a just-released study undertaken by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an organization funded largely by insurance companies, says is the deadliest single mistake made by drivers: straying from their travel lanes, which results in crashes that total 10,345 fatalities a year.
Even without these safety systems, offered on the top-of-the-line Journey model, the EX35 is one of our favorite compact, five-passenger SUVs -- the smooth 3.5-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic transmission are as good as anything in this market segment, and handling is on par with more expensive sport-utes that emphasize "sport".
But with these systems, you have not only an added measure of safety, but a source of excellent conversation at parties.
Sentinel Automotive Editor Steven Cole Smith can be reached at scsmith@orlandosentinel.com.
To see more of The Orlando Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
|
|
