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does have a front-end alignment or front-end work, the steering angle sensor needs to be recalibrated,” Andersky said. “Second, the lateral acceleration and yaw rate sensor is typically on the frame rail. Maintenance is simple: Don’t touch it. Don’t move it. Don’t do anything to it. Leave it alone. If you do move it, which
would be a very rare circumstance, it has to be recalibrated.”
PICKING UP MOMENTUM Andersky noted that it took nearly seven
years for Bendix to sell its first 100,000 stability systems. It has sold an additional 350,000 in the past four-and-a-half years.
“We see collision mitigation technolo-
gy moving even faster. Part of the reason is that there are two to three times as many rear-end collisions as rollovers in commercial vehicles,” he said, predicting that technology will be on buses within five years. “We have it on commercial vehicles to-
day. Te evolutionary path will be getting to school buses,” Andersky said. “(Pupil transportation professionals) don’t live in silos; they talk to each other. If some- one says, ‘I saw this collision mitigation technology on a bus, you should check it out’…people are going to say, ‘We should look at it.’” Smay, who said future generations of sensors are sure to be smaller, faster and smarter, emphasized the development of a new technology is a team effort between the bus manufacturer and its suppliers that can often require a seven-figure capital investment and 12 to 18 months of effort. “A lot of testing goes into it so it does what we expect it to do when we expect it,” he said. But that won’t slow the march of
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new technology. New safety technology includes adaptive cruise control, which can apply the brakes and warn the driver when following another vehicle too closely. Bendix, which is a supplier for IC Bus
and Blue Bird Corporation, is developing Smart Park technology that will lock the brakes if the driver is not in the seat to help prevent tragedies such as a February 2016 incident in which an unattended bus killed an Indiana principal who pushed a child to safety. “Tat’s probably going to be available in the next year to 18 months. It’s going to be one of those technologies that can be a real game changer for the additional safety it can provide in such situations,” Andersky said. Smay also foresees 360 vision technol- ogy that will protect children getting on and off the bus. “You see stories where the driver may lose track of a child who maybe has dropped their pack in front of the bus (and is run over). Te system will warn the driver and keep the bus in park or keep its brakes on until the area is clear,” Smay said. “Tese additional systems are going to be far more important than stability
26 School Transportation News • AUGUST 2016
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