Exclusive: Honda’s huge safety upgrade

Honda Australia has committed to equipping its entire range from the cheapest Jazz mini-car upwards with its complete package of Honda Sensing driver assistance systems, motoring.com.au can reveal.

The package is currently only available at the top of the Civic small car range, in the most expensive CR-V medium SUV and with the outgoing Accord sedan, but in a move described as "watershed" moment for the industry, Honda Australia will start rolling out the Sensing suite as standard equipment across its Australian line-up from mid-2018.

The first model expected to benefit from the upgrade will be a facelift of the popular HR-V compact SUV.

As the upgrade will coincide with facelifts or overhauls of different models it will take a couple of years to fit-out the entire range with the package.

At this stage Honda Australia is yet to make a call on whether it will absorb the cost of the system or pass the cost on to buyers.

Honda has drawn significant criticism for the way it has marketed the Sensing package, which bundles Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) in with forward collision warning, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control with low speed follow and road departure mitigation.

Because of production restrictions in Thailand where almost all of Honda’s Australian line-up is built, AEB cannot be broken out of Honda Sensing, nor can the package be offered as an option.

“With our system we can’t separate AEB on its own so we are currently working on a strategy to implement Honda Sensing across the entire range,” Honda Australia director Stephen Collins told motoring.com.au.

“Every model, every range. It will be from the base Jazz up to the top-spec model in our range.

“We’re not sure how long it will take us to roll it out through the range but that is clearly what our intention is.”

The move to standardise Honda Sensing across the range represents a dramatic step-up in driver assistance systems offered to buyers of cheaper vehicles in Australia.

AEB, let alone other aspects of Honda sensing, is still not universally available let alone standard across the market. Some luxury brands still don’t offer it on all models.

"The safety changes announced by Honda are a significant watershed moment in the Australian vehicle industry," Redbook global general manager Ross Booth said. "Honda is the only brand who has stated they will have the full extensive safety package across the range.

"Some brands are moving to AEB, but combining that with the full safety package is a significant step and is a great move for Honda and the Australian motoring public.”

For Honda's Australian boss, the move is a logical one.

“The discussion right now is AEB, but I think the discussion next year or the year after that is going to be lane keep assist, collision mitigation and so on. I think it is going to move beyond that,” Collins said.

“We really see that we have to take the lead and take the next step.

“It’s also compounded by the fact that we can’t break out AEB, so we are faced with that reality.”

This initiative follows on from Honda’s move to a five-year/unlimited warranty for most of its range earlier this year, as part of its declared ambition to “put the customers at the centre of what we are doing”.

The two moves are also significant victories for Honda Australia in terms of gaining approval from Honda regional and global HQ to up the value and content of the vehicles it sells in Australia, compared to mostly developing markets in the Asian region which predominantly require cheaper vehicles.

“Our philosophy is we really want safety for all of our customers. We think that sort of technology is what we should be delivered,” said Collins. “The question becomes how do we make it work? Do we charge for it? We are working our way through all that now.”

Collins admitted the brand’s inability to provide AEB and other driver assistance systems as options for much of its range was costing it sales.

However, in a flat market Honda sales are up more than 12 per cent in 2017 on the back of big gains for the 10th generation Civic and the arrival of the new CR-V.