Mazda Australia claims to have completed its “standard safety revolution” after adding autonomous emergency braking (AEB) as standard to its CX-3 small crossover last week.
The company has progressively made its Smart City Brake Support – Forward (SCBS-F) system standard on its core passenger and SUV range, putting it at the pointy end of the market.
As of now, the Mazda 2, Mazda 3, Mazda 6, CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9 all have AEB standard.
Most variants therein also have AEB in reverse as well (SCBS-R), and a large proportion of its volume-selling variants also offer blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert.
SCBS operates between 4-30km/h on Mazda 2, Mazda CX-3 and Mazda CX-9, and between 4-80km/h on Mazda 3, Mazda 6 and CX-5.
“It is obvious that safety technology is important to new car buyers, so we made the decision to respond to this and offer Smart City Brake Support – and other i-ACTIVSENSE safety technologies – as standard equipment,” said Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak.
“Beginning with the passenger and SUV flagships, the Mazda6 and the Mazda CX-9, we have been committed to including these technologies as standard on their smaller siblings.
“Now available on New Mazda2 and New Mazda CX-3, these vehicles are now the class leaders in their respective sales segments.
“The feedback we’ve had from buyers has been very positive, so it was definitely the right move.”
However, there are some snags. For one, the MX-5 roadster doesn’t offer AEB, though Mazda claims its whole passenger car range offers it. Nor does the BT-50, but that’s not unusual for the ute market.
Secondly, while the addition of AEB across the vast majority of its cars is indeed highly laudable, Mazda is behind the eight-ball in offering an arguably even more important safety feature – rear-view cameras.
The base Mazda 2 Neo, Mazda 3 Neo and CX-3 Neo do not offer reversing cameras as standard, though you can retrofit one that displays in the rear-view mirror for extra cost ($790 on the CX-3, for instance).
