The safety feature that saved my bacon and can save yours, too

Consider me a convert. I’m 100-percent convinced that a forward-collision warning system (FCW) prevented my wife and me from having a serious high-speed crash. Having experienced the benefits of this advanced safety technology first-hand, I’m furious that it isn’t on more cars and offered at a lower price.

Here's what happened: A few weeks ago, my wife and I were on a four-lane Massachusetts freeway, returning from a weekend of camping with Consumer Reports’ 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel and pulling an Airstream trailer. I was just tooling along in the slow lane, and wondering if I should take the next exit or not. This was a clear, dry road that ran straight ahead of me, down into and back up a dip, with nearly ¾-mile of clear visibility.

My wife was tapping busily on her iPhone, trying to get a fix on traffic congestion. Pilots call it “situational awareness,” and mine was lost. While staring at the traffic stopped way ahead of me at the exit, I didn’t realize that it had also backed up nearer to me, filling up the lane ahead.

A loud “BEEP BEEP BEEP” yanked my gaze down to the dashboard. Time slowed down, like in a movie. My wife yelled, “What’s that?!” A big red “BRAKE!” appeared across the entire digital instrument display. I looked up to see that right ahead of me, a car sat directly in my path, and I was closing in way too fast.

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Now I had to quickly stop 11,000 pounds of Jeep and Airstream. (The Jeep’s crash mitigation auto-braking might have helped some, but the system wasn’t going to stop it completely.) I jumped on the brake pedal hard and then backed off a little to keep from locking the trailer’s electric brakes. We stopped, but with little room to spare.

This experience convinced us that we would never buy a new car without FCW. Indeed, my wife’s 2011 Dodge Durango has this safety gear. But prioritizing this technology can force a big added cost.

The FCW system on Consumer Reports' $49,780 Jeep Grand Cherokee was a $1,995 option, bundled into an “Advanced Technology Group” package along with adaptive cruise control, lane departure mitigation, and blind-spot warning. To get that package, you also need to get the $3,000 Luxury Group II package, and you can’t get it on a trim level below Limited. Turns out, such price-based restrictions are typical. Very few cars have forward-collision warning standard, and most force you to get expensive options, often on top of a high-end trim level.

I’m far from alone in supporting forward-collision warning. Highway Loss Data Institute data show that FCW, packaged with lane-departure warning, reduced crashes on Honda Accords and Crosstours by 14 percent. Coupling FCW with auto-braking, which works to prevent or lessen the severity of crashes, can even further reduce insurance claims. Accordingly, a front crash protection system with effective auto-braking, as proven effective in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) testing, is required to earn their 2015 Top Safety Pick+ rating. Vehicles with basic FCW systems without effective auto-braking can qualify for Top Safety Pick status, sans the plus sign.

What cars make FCW affordable, or at least easy to find on a dealer’s lot?