Road Safety Blog

Land Rover impresses with Advanced Tow Assist Feature

10-8-16

Land Rover has helped remove some of the stress of reversing a trailer with its updated towing technology. The optional Advanced Tow Assist feature is now available on all Land Rover and Range Rover vehicles.

 

Advanced Tow Assist allows drivers to reverse a trailer using the rotary controller on the centre console to guide the vehicle. The Terrain Response knob assumes the role of the steering wheel. While operating the pedals as normal, the intuitive system shows the predicted path of the trailer with coloured guide lines on the infotainment screen. This enables steering with ease as the vehicle calculates the precise level of counter-steering required to maintain the desired trajectory.

 

The towing technology makes the system more intuitive than using the steering wheel. Within one field of vision, it effectively steers the trailer along the desired path. This eliminates the need to constantly check three mirrors and look over shoulders while performing unnatural opposite steering techniques. In addition to significantly reducing driver workload, the feature enhances manoeuvrability and safety when reversing. It will also alert the driver when approaching a jack-knife situation.

 

Trailer Stability Assist

Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) is a standard feature on all Land Rovers and Range Rovers. It monitors the vehicle to detect movements in the trailer and then uses selective braking to help correct potentially hazardous situations. Should TSA detect a dangerous trailer sway situation developing, it can help regain control by gradually reducing speed. It does this by lowering engine power and applying the brakes individually on each side of the vehicle to control the sway.

 

 

 

Trailer Light Test

8/4/2016 9.30 V4

On Land Rovers and Range Rovers with optional Electronically Deployable Tow Bars (EDT) fitted, a Trailer Light Test system automatically checks if all lights on the trailer are functioning correctly. This towing technology eliminates the need to manually walk around the vehicle and trailer to check globes are in order. It can be especially tricky to complete this when inspecting brake lights alone.

 

Hitch Assist

All vehicles with rear cameras and factory-fitted tow bars, either fixed or Electronically Deployable, come with a Hitch Assist function. This eases the process of joining a vehicle and trailer. The infotainment screen will display a trajectory line from the tow ball directly to the trailer’s ball cup. It prevents the need for outside assistance or having to continuously get out of the driver’s seat to check progress.

 

Rear Height Assist

 

Land Rovers fitted with either optional or standard Air Suspension, such as Discovery, New Defender and Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Velar, can raise or lower the rear of the vehicle to make quick work of attaching a trailer. This feature takes some time out of manually winding the trailer’s nosewheel height to match the tow ball and tow cup. Rear Height Assist is also handy in situations without a trailer, such as when loading groceries or dogs into the cargo bay.

 

 

 

Nose Load Measurement

The Land Rover Discovery and New Defender are available with a unique Nose Load Measurement System. This allows drivers to easily check the weight being applied to the vehicle tow bar. These vehicles’ Electronically Deployable Tow Bar hardware carry a calibrated weight sensor to gauge the load on the tow bar itself and warn of dangerous overloading.

 

* All of the above features are designed to work with either Land Rover Accessory or factory fitment tow bars. Some features are only available as factory fitment and are not automatically enabled with Land Rover approved Accessory tow bar.

Article Via MasterDrive

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