What is Nissan Safety Shield 360?

New vehicles offer an array of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). This technology monitors the driver, vehicle behavior, and road conditions, providing visual and audible alerts to potential threats and perhaps, depending on the system, actively braking or steering to prevent a collision.

Many car companies have taken to gathering these systems into collections of technology with a brand name of some kind. For example, Nissan Safety Shield 360 is Nissan’s name for its collection of ADAS, and it is a standard equipment on all versions of the 2020 Nissan Kicks, Leaf, Maxima, Rogue Sport, Sentra, and Titan. With other Nissan models, some elements of Nissan Safety Shield 360 are standard, while others are optional or unavailable. They include the 2020 Nissan Altima, Armada, Murano, Pathfinder, Rogue, and Versa.

What is Nissan Safety Shield 360?

The six components of Safety Shield 360 include blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic warning, lane-departure warning, forward collision warning with pedestrian detection and automatic emergency braking, rear automatic braking, and automatic high-beam headlights. Here is additional detail for what each of these systems does:

• Blind-spot warning detects a vehicle in a driver's blind spot, and warns the driver using both visual and audible alerts
• Rear cross-traffic warning is useful when backing out of parking spaces and driveways, alerting the driver if a vehicle is approaching from the side  
• Lane departure warning lets a driver know when he or she is drifting from the lane with an audible or sensory notification. Nissan often employs a steering wheel vibration for this purpose
• Forward collision warning with pedestrian detection and automatic emergency braking uses forward-facing radar and cameras to track people, cars, and other potential objects ahead. First, it provides visual and audible warnings when a potential collision may occur. Second, if the driver takes no action, it automatically brakes the vehicle to prevent or diminish the severity of a forward collision
• Rear automatic braking applies the brakes if a stationary object behind the vehicle is detected when backing up
• Automatic high-beam headlights switch back and forth between low- and high-beam illumination depending on traffic conditions

Why is Nissan Safety Shield 360 Important?

Some people are wary of ADAS, but Nissan Safety Shield 360 takes a smart approach by including all of the most useful systems while leaving potentially unwanted technology like adaptive cruise control on the optional equipment list.

Aside from that, Nissan cites an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) report touting the benefits of ADAS. This report includes statistics such as:

• Cross-traffic warning reduces crashes by 22 percent
• The combination of rearview cameras and sensors reduces crashes by 42 percent
• Adding rear automatic braking reduces crashes while traveling in reverse by 78 percent

Note that the context for these statistics is in comparison to vehicles without these features.

Another study by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) finds systems equipped with automatic braking along with adaptive cruise control to be especially effective at reducing collision claims.

While the Nissan Safety Shield 360 offers six different technologies, there are upwards of twenty ADAS available in the market today. When shopping for vehicle equipped with ADAS, it's essential to know which features are included in an automaker’s suite of offerings, as not all packages are created equal – equally useful.

Related Resources:

• Car Loan Calculator
• Compare Cars