OREANDA-NEWS. The Crosswind Assist is standard from June 2014 for further variants of the Sprinter. It has not yet been a year since the standard Crosswind Assist celebrated its premiere in the large-van segment with the launch of the new Sprinter – at least in a whole series of variants of the panel van and crewbus.

The focus was initially on the most common variants. Now the innovative safety system is also part of the standard equipment for many other versions.

On the panel van and crewbus, Crosswind Assist now also comes factory-installed, for example, in the 3.0 t variant. The same applies to the all-wheel-drive Sprinter with 3.5 t as a panel van and crewbus. In the case of the open model variants of the Sprinter, too, the Crosswind Assist is now included. "Open model variants" means: chassis variants, from the pickup to the tipper to vehicles with box bodies. Whereas open model variants usually offer a much smaller attack surface for side wind gusts, large box bodies present a significantly larger attack surface. For this reason, the systems have been retested and painstakingly applied to each variant.

The Crosswind Assist also takes into account parameters such as vehicle speed, vehicle load and steering characteristics

The Crosswind Assist is one of five new safety systems with which the Sprinter advanced into a completely new dimension of safety technology in the van segment in the past year. Its sensors detect forces acting on the vehicle through side wind gusts – be it on a bridge or when overtaking a truck. The system's response also takes account of vehicle speed, vehicle load and steering characteristics of the driver. Through a brake actuation via ESP at the wheels of the vehicle side facing the wind a yaw motion develops and counteracts the side wind interference. The track offset is thus significantly reduced.

The result is tangible strain relief for the driver. Their feeling of safety and comfort increases, and inappropriate driver reactions in gusts of wind are prevented. Via an indicator lamp in the instrument cluster the driver's attention is also drawn to the system's intervention. The Crosswind Assist is activated from a speed of 80 km/h.