June 20 - Honda’s commitment to introduce advanced vehicle designs aiming to reduce pedestrian injuries and enhance driver visibility with standard rearview camera application has earned Honda recognition as a “Highway Safety Hero” by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates). For 2014, Honda was the only company honored. Other honorees included 26 current and former members of Congress, eight state officials and 14 citizen activists “in recognition of efforts to save lives, prevent injuries and make roads safer.”

As part of its commitment to improving safety for all road users, Honda has led the U.S. automotive industry in the application of safety and driver assistive technologies as standard equipment – including features that aim to reduce injuries to pedestrians in a collision, such as collapsible hood hinges and breakaway windshield wiper pivots, with a focus on reducing severe head injuries, which account for roughly 60 percent of pedestrian fatalities.

Further, Honda has taken a comprehensive approach to the application of rearview cameras. More than 94 percent of Honda and Acura models sold in the

in 2013 were equipped with standard rearview cameras. No other brand has as many models equipped with standard rearview cameras for the 2014 model year and by the 2015 model year, rearview cameras will be standard on all Honda and Acura models.

“For more than a decade, Honda has focused on reducing the threat of injuries to pedestrians as part of our ‘Safety for Everyone’ approach,” said Chuck Thomas, chief safety engineer at Honda R&D Americas, Inc., who accepted the award on Honda’s behalf. “As we continue to research other advanced technologies such as vehicle-to-pedestrian sensing technologies, this work will be an integral part of our dream to eliminate motor vehicle collisions entirely.”

Rearview cameras are just one aspect of Honda’s overall approach to enhanced driver visibility and situational awareness, demonstrated by the broad application of technologies such as Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Lane Departure Warning (LDW) systems on Honda models. These systems use a camera mounted behind the windshield or a front mount radar system to identify and alert drivers to a potential collision with a vehicle detected in front of them, or to alert drivers if the car is unexpectedly moving out of a detected lane. Other available features aimed at improving driver visibility are the Expanded View Driver’s Mirror, Honda LaneWatch display and Acura’s Blind Spot Information (BSI) system.