The Euro NCAP Advanced 2013 award, which is given in recognition of innovation in cutting edge safety systems has been given to Fiat for the City Brake Control on the Fiat 500L.
This active safety programme detects the presence of vehicles or obstacles in front of the car and automatically applies the brakes if the driver fails to do so in order to avoid the collision, or applies them to reduce the severity of an impact. City Brake Control is designed to provide assistance in urban traffic and is active when the car is travelling at a speed between 3 and 19mph.
The system uses a light detection and ranging laser sensors located on the upper part of the windscreen to interface with the Electronic Stability Control system. It also integrates three functions, Automatic Emergency Braking, Prefill and Brake Assist.