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Safety

The Legend is equipped with a comprehensive array of the latest technologies to enhance active safety (accident avoidance) and passive safety (crash safety performance). Features like Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) with traction control, heightened handling agility, SH-AWD and ABS enhance accident avoidance capability. HID xenon low-beam headlights and the Active Front Lighting System (AFS) contribute to superior night-time visibility.

In addition, Legend customers can specify Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which automatically maintains a consistent distance to a vehicle directly in front, for more relaxed, less tiring driving, and Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS). This monitors the following distance and closing rate between the Legend and the car directly in front of it, warns the driver when a collision is likely and helps reduce impact when a collision becomes unavoidable.

Customers of right-hand drive Legends also have the option of Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) which maintains the position of the car in a lane by providing steering torque when necessary – significantly reducing driver fatigue and helping to prevent accidents.

Should a collision prove unavoidable, the Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) Body Structure of the Legend is designed to provide a protective cocoon for passengers. Inside, side, side curtain and dual-stage front airbag systems work together with sophisticated restraint systems to minimise injury to passengers in sufficient impacts.

And the Legend is fitted with one of the world's first pyrotechnic-activated pop-up hoods to help reduce pedestrian injury.

Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) Body Structure
The Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) Body Structure on the new Honda Legend is designed to deliver significantly enhanced occupant protection in a variety of real-world crash conditions. These may include a frontal collision between vehicles of differing heights, weights and frame construction.

The ACE Body Structure uses the engine compartment to efficiently absorb and disperse collision energy during a vehicle-to-vehicle collision. It features a new frame structure composed of a highly efficient energy-absorbing main frame, a bulkhead (upper frame) which absorbs the upper part of the collision energy, and a lower member that helps prevent misalignment of the frames of the vehicles involved. This design disperses collision forces over a larger frontal area, which enhances energy absorption of the engine compartment, reduces the chance of deformation of the passenger compartment and results in enhanced occupant protection. At the same time, the structure reduces the chance of vertical or lateral misalignment between the Legend and another vehicle's safety structures.

During a frontal collision, a conventional body structure generally concentrates the loads from the impact through two pathways running longitudinally through the lower portion of the frame. The ACE Body Structure's front-mounted polygonal main frame is designed to prevent cabin deformation by distributing forces through multiple major load bearing pathways – and away from the passenger compartment.

To meet side impact requirements, Honda's engineers have increased the side section of the frame and chosen different material specifications to provide the desired level of stiffness and strength for critical areas, without adding unnecessary weight.

Pop-up hood enhances pedestrian safety characteristics
Honda expects the Legend to record a 3-star rating in Euro NCAP pedestrian tests. Among its features is one of the world's first pop-up hoods, designed to cushion the impact of a pedestrian struck by the front bumper. The principle behind the system is that the rear edge of the hood lifts by 100 mm upon activation which provides ample clearance between the hood and the engine components, significantly mitigating head injuries.

Accelerometers mounted in the front bumper detect an impact between the bumper and the lower legs of a pedestrian. In response an electronic control unit activates a pyrotechnic actuator which fires a plunger to lift the hood upwards. Wheel speed sensors ensure that activation doesn't occur in the event of a low speed impact, such as a light tap in a supermarket car park.

Activation performance is clearly a crucial element in a pop-up hood's effectiveness. In an accident, the smaller the pedestrian, the more quickly that person's head makes contact with the hood. The Honda Legends deploys in less than 30 milliseconds, which is less than the time it takes for an average height 6-year-old child's head to make contact.

The Legend also features energy-absorbing front wing mounts, while the windscreen wiper pivots are also deformable. Research shows that features such as these dramatically improve a pedestrian's chance of survival if struck by a moving vehicle.

Active Front Lighting System
The Legend is equipped with xenon high-intensity discharge low-beam headlamps to provide a superior lighting pattern that is both longer and wider than that of traditional bulbs, as well as Active Front Lighting System (AFS).

AFS illuminates the direction of travel rather than the direction the car is pointing in. It enables the left low-beam unit to swivel left, and the right low beam to swivel right, to improve illumination while cornering, or to illuminate a road junction. This provides the driver with advance warning of pedestrians, other traffic or obstructions. Each light can swivel by up to 20 degrees, with the amount determined by the vehicle speed and steering input.

The system uses the following components:
Steering angle sensor

Vehicle speed sensor

Reverse switch (cancels AFS when car is backing up)

Control switch (turns off AFS at driver's discretion)

Instrument panel warning light (illuminates when AFS is turned off)

Control unit swivels the headlight low beam projector unit via a gearbox and step motor

AFS swivels either the left or right headlight (not both together) when the following conditions are met:
Steering angle is over 12 degrees

Vehicle speed is 10 km/h or higher

Swivel cancels when speed drops to 5 km/h

LED lighting
LED lights are used extensively on the Legend for their efficiency and speed of activation. These include mirror integrated indicators, which are now featured on all new Honda models.

Each taillight/brake light assembly has an array of 28 LEDs. The taillights use 14 LEDs, arranged as the perimeter of a circle, and the brake lights use an additional 14 LEDs. When the brakes are applied, all 28 light up, illuminating the entire area.

The centre high-mounted stop lamp also uses LEDs as does the rear foglamp which is located within the trim above the licence plate area.

Advanced Driving Assist Systems

Customers can choose a Technology Package which includes Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) which maintains a safe distance from a vehicle in front, and the Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS) which predicts potential collision situations and reacts accordingly. In addition, right-hand-drive models also incorporate the Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS) as part of the package.

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)
In addition to maintaining a set speed, as with a conventional cruise control, ACC is able to automatically regulate the distance to a vehicle travelling ahead in the same lane, thereby reducing the burden of motorway (or similar road) driving and enhancing driver comfort and safety.

It uses a millimetre-wave radar mounted inside the front grille to recognise the presence and the speed of the vehicle ahead; the frequency difference between the transmitted-wave and the reflected-wave makes it possible to calculate the exact distance and the relative speed between the vehicles. When this distance falls below a predetermined value, the system instantly decelerates the vehicle through throttle control and, if necessary, by application of the brakes (via communication with VSA).

In instances where quicker deceleration is required, such as sudden braking by the vehicle in front, the system will alert the driver with a warning light and a buzzer to prompt the driver to apply the brakes. If the vehicle ahead changes lane or the distance increases again, then the system increases the vehicle speed to the predetermined value.

ACC operates between 30-180 km/h (or 20-110 mph) and the driver can increase the Legend's speed via the ACC button on the steering wheel in 5 km/h (or 2 mph) increments.

Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS)
The Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS) is a revolutionary safety technology which takes the ACC technology to the next, logical stage by predicting collision situations and reacting accordingly.

When the closing rate between the Legend and the vehicle in front increases to a point where a collision is likely to occur, the system uses visual, and audible warnings to prompt the driver to take preventative action. If, based on the driver's response, the system determines that the likelihood of a collision has decreased to an acceptable level, the CMBS system will disengage. If, however, the driver's response does not sufficiently reduce the risk of a collision, the system will issue a secondary warning, consisting of audible, visual and tactile elements as well as light braking, to alert the driver to take action. If the closing rate increases so much that a collision becomes unavoidable, CMBS can initiate hard braking to reduce the vehicle's speed, and E-pretensioner can tension the driver's and front passenger's seatbelts to help maximize the restraining ability of the seatbelts.

Stage one: When there is a risk of a collision with the vehicle ahead or if the distance between the vehicles has dropped below the pre-set level, a buzzer sounds and the word 'BRAKE' appears on the Multi-information display.

Stage two: If the distance between the two vehicles continues to diminish, CMBS applies light braking, and the driver's E-pretensioner activates an electric motor which retracts the seatbelt gently two or three times, providing the driver with a tactile warning. The buzzer sounds again and the word 'BRAKE' appears again on the Multi-information display.

Stage three: If, after issuing the primary and secondary warnings, the system determines that a collision is unavoidable, the E-pretensioner retracts the driver's and front passenger's seatbelts with enough force to compensate for seatbelt slack or baggy clothing and activates the brakes forcefully to reduce the speed of impact and mitigate the effects of the collision on the Legend and its occupants.

The CMBS system functions only when the Legend is travelling at over 15 km/h and when the speed differential between the Legend and the car directly in front is 15 km/h or more. It can be turned off by depressing a switch located on the side of the instrument panel.

Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS)
Already seen on the latest Honda Accord, LKAS maintains the position of the car in its lane by providing steering torque when necessary – significantly reducing driver fatigue and helping to prevent accidents.

The system identifies the boundaries of the vehicle's lane by processing images from a C-MOS camera mounted behind the windscreen. It then calculates the optimum steering torque – a combination of human input (minimum 20 per cent) and the assisted steering torque (maximum 80 per cent) – to keep the vehicle in the centre of the lane. A continuous beep sound will be emitted when the vehicle is about to cross the lane marking.

LKAS operates when the following conditions are fulfilled:

On roads with left and right lane boundary markings (where markings are clear and visible)

On motorways or roads that are equivalent to motorways (excluding sharp curves/bends)

At vehicle speeds between 45 and 112 mph

Driver has to keep contact with the steering wheel – if the system fails to recognise the driver's input on

the steering, it switches itself off

Side indicators are not activated

Steering torque generated by the driver does not indicate imminent lane change manoeuvre

Only operates on bends that have a less than 230 metre radius (at 80 km/h);

Source: Motor Corporation