“Our DriverFirst philosophy drives us to continually improve product features that matter most to our customers, and safety is always a significant concern,” says Charles Chilton, vice president of Navistar’s Product Strategy and Planning function. “With our shared commitment to the driver, vehicle and highway safety, we’re proud to advance the safety features available on our products in collaboration with Bendix. By putting drivers in trucks equipped with safety aids, we are all contributing to a safer transportation network, from which everyone will benefit.”
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Upgrading from the earlier generation of Fusion as standard equipment on the International LT Series and RH Series, Navistar says the enhanced Fusion system delivers:
- Enhanced collision mitigation and stationary vehicle braking;
- Multilane automatic emergency braking;
- Highway departure braking; and
- Enhanced Adaptive Cruise Control.
The enhanced Wingman Fusion system now has the capacity to apply increased braking power on the tractor and trailer when compared to the original Fusion system. It also retains the capabilities of the system’s earlier versions, such as stationary object alerts, overspeed alerts and intervention, lane departure warning, and prioritized alerts to help reduce driver distraction, Navistar says.
Further advancing available driver safety options on its heavy-duty lineup, International also has added the updated optional Bendix BlindSpotter Side Object Detection System features for the LT Series and RH Series. International has enhanced the optional Blindspotter system through improved integration with the vehicle’s controller area network.
With this new integration, the company says the updated BlindSpotter system provides a wider, 150-degree range of coverage, which is capable of detecting objects up to 20 feet in front of and 20 feet behind the BlindSpotter radar. The coverage zone extends up to 10 ft. to the right of the vehicle.
By operating in two modes, highway speeds and lower speeds, the updated Blindspotter system has an increased ability to filter stationary objects like guardrails at highway speeds, and narrows the range for alerts without filtering stationary objects or infrastructure at speeds less than 20 mph. The updated BlindSpotter system maintains the look, size, position and mounting hardware of its radar and in-cab display units.
Additionally, the building on these safety benefits are two new systems offered as optional on both the International LT and International RH Series: Bendix Wingman Fusion with ACB (Active Cruise with Braking) Stop and Driver Go, and Lane Keep Assist.
International now becomes the only OEM to offer Bendix Wingman Fusion with ACB Stop and Driver Go. This system includes the benefits of Wingman Fusion with enhanced features, and ACB Stop and Driver Go, which allows for Adaptive Cruise Control to remain active down to low vehicle speeds, including full stop. Once at stop, if the driver applies throttle and reaches 7 miles per hour, the system can re-accelerate the vehicle to the cruise control set speed, provided there is no object detected ahead, the company says.
“ACB Stop and Driver Go is a driver-satisfying feature in heavy stop-and-go traffic, while the Comfort Braking that is another enhancement of the system provides smoother application of the foundation brakes,” Chilton says.
Another optional system being offered on the International LT and International RH Series is Lane Keep Assist, which supports the driver with assisted steering torque to remain within the lane of travel when a pending unintended lane departure is recognized. The system’s active steering functionality dynamically adjusts steering effort based on vehicle speed, allowing lighter steering at low speeds to aid in maneuvering in parking lot situations, and heaver/firmer steering at higher speed to aid in control of the vehicle.
Navistar says the system — built on an existing Sheppard steering gear that is already standard on many Navistar vehicles — also includes compensation to counter cross winds or road crowning, steering wheel return-to-center assist, and active damping to reduce steering wheel oscillations and improve feel. Hanover, Pa.-based R.H. Sheppard Co. Inc. was acquired by Bendix in June 2020.
