OVERVIEW
The TL is engineered as a total safety package with features designed
to help in accident avoidance and to help protect the passengers in
the event a collision is unavoidable. The best form of safety
engineering is the type that prevents an accident from occurring in
the first place. Accident avoidance items include standard Traction
Control System (TCS), standard ABS disc brakes, Xenon High Intensity
Discharge (HID) headlights for enhanced visibility and 289.3 degrees
of outward visibility.
Should an accident prove unavoidable, the TL protects its occupants with carefully orchestrated crash energy attenuation strategies developed on a super computer. Front and rear crumple zones, along with side impact enhancements help protect the passenger compartment. Standard driver and front passenger supplemental restraint system (SRS) air bags with a dual-stage passenger air bag and an advanced driver and front passenger side air bag system supplement the structural engineering in the 2000 3.2TL.
SAFETY STRUCTURE
The strength required to meet worldwide safety regulations was
designed into the TL from the earliest stages of its development. In
frontal impacts, straight-section frame box rails with large
cross-sections feed impact energy directly into the main frame
structure, without the need for stiffeners at changes in cross
section. To exceed new 2002 Federal head-impact safety regulations,
the TL's interior has energy absorbing roof-pillar garnishes and roof
lining designed to help reduce injury to the occupants. To better
deal with offset-impact energy, reinforcements are placed at the roof
side rails, side sills, A-pillars, and front and side frame members.
SIDE IMPACT PROTECTION
To help protect occupants during side impacts, the B-pillars are
stiffened, a substantial cross member runs transversely across the
floor pan, a tubular brace connects the two A-pillars inside the
instrument panel, a bulkhead is positioned at the back of the
passenger cabin and the rear doors have special catcher mechanisms to
restrict intrusion into the passenger compartment. The doors have
special reinforcements for side impact; twin side impact beams are
placed in the front doors, with single beams in the rear doors. All
four doors have a stamped steel stiffening structure at the tops of
the door panels, as well as impact-absorbing door-lining pads
positioned near the occupants.
DUAL AIR BAG SUPPLEMENTAL RESTRAINT SYSTEM (SRS)
The TL is equipped with a driver and front passenger air bag
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS). The driver's air bag is located
in the steering wheel hub, while the passenger's air bag is located
on top of the dash. Both air bags are triggered simultaneously by
means of three impact sensors located in the passenger compartment.
To ensure maximum reliability, the sensors use gold-plated electrical
connectors. As in all Acura automobiles, the front passenger air bag
is designed to deploy upward along the windshield and then back
toward the occupant. This provides a large cushion to help protect
the front passenger.
DUAL STAGE PASSENGER AIR BAG
To enhance the protection of the front seat passenger during a
variety of frontal impact collisions, varying air bag deployment
power is used in the TL. The Honda R&D designed system, which
uses a dual-stage inflator, is the first such design ever to be used
on an automobile and automatically adjusts the deployment of the
front passenger SRS airbag based on the severity of the crash. During
a slower speed collision, the dual-stage inflator system for the
dash-mounted air bag is triggered in sequence, resulting in slower
overall air bag deployment with less initial force. During a higher
speed collision, both inflators operate simultaneously for full
immediate inflation, to correspond with the greater impact force.
An additional new feature designed into the system also detects whether the passenger's seat belt is fastened. If the passenger seatbelt is not fastened, the air bag deploys at a lower threshold to protect an unbelted occupant.
SIDE AIR BAG SYSTEM
The TL features seat-mounted side air bags for the driver and front
seat passenger. The front passenger seat is equipped with an
innovative occupant position detection system designed to disable
side air bag deployment and prevent injury to a small child if they
lean their head into the side air bag deployment path. A series of
seven sensors in the passenger seatback determine the size and
position of the occupant to assist the system in determining if it is
safe to deploy the side air bag. If the child is in the deployment
path of the side air bag, the system will disable the side air bag
from inflating. If the child returns to an upright seating position,
the side airbag will reactivate so it can deploy and protect the
child in a side impact.
NEW REAR CHILD SEAT TETHER ANCHORS
To allow a child seat to be securely positioned in any of the back
seat positions, seat tether anchors are standard in the TL.
XENON HIGH INTENSITY DISCHARGE (HID) HEADLIGHTS
The TL features Xenon High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights with
double the total illuminating power of conventional halogen
headlamps, enhancing visibility and active safety performance. The
HID headlight bulbs also last twice as long as halogen bulbs and
require less energy to operate.