Meritor WABCO announced that the OnGuard Collision Mitigation System is now available for use in medium-duty trucks – another first in the industry, according to the company.

OnGuard is a radar-based active safety system for commercial vehicles that offers collision warnings and collision mitigation with active braking, as well as adaptive cruise control. The OnGuard collision mitigation system detects objects ahead and measures the vehicle’s position in relation to others on the road to warn the driver of possible a rear-end collision by providing audible, visual and haptic warnings.

Used extensively in heavy-duty trucks since 2007, OnGuard is a leading collision mitigation system, with more than 90,000 systems and more than 32 billion miles now on the road. More than 200 fleets are using the system to help keep their truck drivers and fellow motorists safe, according to Stephen Hampson, president and general manager, Meritor WABCO.

The OnGuard system is “always on,” monitoring the road and providing warnings and active braking, even when the cruise control is not set, according to Meritor WABCO. When a potentially dangerous driving scenario is detected, the collision mitigation system responds by sending warnings, automatically reducing engine torque and applying the foundation brakes.

A distinguishing feature of OnGuard is the ability to “see” in limited-visibility conditions, the company noted, thanks to its superior high-resolution, long-range radar. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, nearly 12 percent of heavy-truck accidents occur in limited visibility and represent 20 percent of heavy-truck crash fatalities (FMCSA Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts, 2013-2015).

“Meritor WABCO is very pleased that medium-duty trucks will now be able to realize the same benefit that fleets with heavy-duty trucks have gained by using OnGuard to reduce frequency of rear-end truck collisions, damage and costs as well as reduce injuries and save lives,” said Hampson. Medium-duty trucks represent about 40 percent of the annual sales of heavy trucks. He notes that heavy-duty truck fleets have reported a 65 percent to 87 percent reduction in accidents and up to an 89 percent reduction in accident costs since employing the OnGuard system.

A new member of the OnGuard family to be made available to medium- and heavy-duty trucks in 2016 is OnGuardACTIVE, which warns and brakes when detecting stationary objects, to mitigate or possibly avoid a potential accident, Hampson added.

In addition, OnGuard is designed to work in tandem with ProView, Meritor WABCO’s Fleet Performance Management System. ProView receives input from the OnGuard system as a trigger to capture video, which can then be used for driver coaching or industry-leading accident reconstruction video.