Team Acura Parts Blog

Before heading to the office or taking your child to school the next day, we often watch the news to check on the weather the following day. This helps us map out our plan of action before going on the road. But we all know that the weather has a mind of its own. Even though the news forecasted it to be a sunny day, a downpour might occur in the area where you’re headed to ruining whatever game plan you may have when you get there. To alleviate this, Acura has teamed up with XM to have the XM NavWeather built-in to their new 2009 Acura RL.

The XM NavWeather, created in partnership with Baron Services, is a system that provides alerts to drivers on weather threats such as hail, floods, tornado and storm warnings that are about to occur. To do this, the system makes use of the “Threat Matrix” technology, allowing the system to provide timely weather information. The XM NavWeather is able to provide nationwide weather updates for more than 20 weather conditions, based on the driver’s routes, which are then displayed on vehicle’s screen. It’s also able to provide weather forecasts based on the information provided by the weather monitoring stations across the US.

This type of technology was developed because according to Robert O. Baron, President and CEO of Baron Services, “Drivers don’t have time to scrutinize every bit of weather data, so we’ve done all the analysis before it reaches their vehicles.”

“This streamlined, driver-centric philosophy helps drivers stay informed about perilous road and weather conditions, while being able to focus on safely reaching their destinations,” he added.

Source: CNN Money

When the year 2006 came, the RL made history by being the first Acura vehicle to be able to offer an optional Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS).  This feature is considered to be a revolutionary safety technology, which monitors the potential rear-end collisions. It makes use of audio, visual and tactile signals in order to alert drivers of the risk of collision. It assists in brake operation as well as the tension in front seatbelts. In so doing, it helps reduce impact on occupants and vehicle damage, in such circumstances where the collision become unavoidable. Unlike other pre-collision systems, the CMBS automatically applies the brakes to mitigate the severity of a collision.

The CMBS system monitors the distance between the RL and the car directly in front of it up to a distance of 300 feet and the rate of closure between the two vehicles with the use of a millimeter-wave radar unit located inside the front grille. In case the closing rate increases to a point where a collision is likely to occur, the system uses visual, and olfactory warnings to set off the driver to take preventative action. Basing on the driver’s response, the system will then determine if the possibility of a collision has decreased to an acceptable level. If so, the CMBS system will disengage. However, if response of the driver does not sufficiently reduce the risk of a collision, the system will issue a secondary warning. This consists of audible, visual and tactile elements as well as light braking, to alert the driver to take action.

And when the closing rate increases so much that a collision already becomes unavoidable, the CMBS can initiate hard braking to reduce the vehicle’s speed. This also strengthens the tension on the driver’s and front passenger’s seatbelts, which help reduce the gravity of the crash.

Acura enthusiasts are sure to have a good traffic with the XM NavTraffic service that will be available as a factory-installed feature on new 2008 models. Acura MDX, RDX, RL, TL will all have XM NavTraffic as a feature.

The XM NavTraffic’s real-time satellite information service for GPS navigation will add 29 new markets, providing XM NavTraffic subscribers in the U.S. access to real-time traffic data in a total of 79 major and secondary North American markets. This began since July 31st of 2007. Aside from this, four current markets will also have the benefit of increased traffic data coverage within their respected metro areas.

The 29 new XM NavTraffic markets include: Albany, NY; Albuquerque, NM; Allentown, PA; Birmingham, AL; Dayton, OH; Grand Rapids, MI; Greenville, SC; Greensboro, NC; Harrisburg, PA; Lancaster-York, PA; Syracuse, NY; Little Rock, AR; Louisville, KY; Mobile, AL; Naples, FL; New Orleans, LA; Oklahoma City, OK; Omaha, NE; Lincoln, NE; Colorado Springs, CO; Tulsa, OK; Portsmouth, NH; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, VA; Rochester, NY; Spokane, WA; Toledo, OH; Tucson, AZ; and Wilkes Barre, PA. Acura drivers in the abovementioned cities will be able to learn about traffic incidents such as road closures, accidents, or construction as they happen in real-time.

“Thousands of drivers have been relying on XM NavTraffic to route around traffic, reducing the time they spend behind the wheel. We’re pleased to expand this convenient service to an additional 29 new markets,” said Roderick MacKenzie, XM’s VP of Advanced Applications and Services.

Having access to XM NavTraffic via the Acura vehicle means that Acura users improves on their riding comfort and get to save time as well.