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General Motors Side Blind Zone Alert Technology

Side Blind Zone Alert is a General Motors active safety technology that provides side mirror alerts to help the driver avoid crashing into a vehicle in their side blind spot (or zone) during a lane change maneuver.

The technology uses one left and one right short-range radars located in the rear corners of the vehicle to monitor moving vehicles up to 11 feet (3.5 meters) behind the side mirror, one lane over from both sides of the vehicle. The system only works when the vehicle is in a Forward gear.

A driver is warned of a moving vehicle in the side blind zone via an amber Lane Change Alert icon in the side mirror. The icon flashes if the driver activates the turn signal in the direction of the detected vehicle. As such, a lit Lane Change Alert icon indicates that it may be unsafe to change lanes, not that that it is safe to change lanes. The system is intended to assist in changing lanes, and the driver is still responsible for checking mirrors, looking over the shoulder, and using turn signals before making a lane change. To note, Side Blind Alert does not deliver a Safety Alert Seat vibration or any form of beeping alerts.

Turning the system or or off is accomplished via a setting in the vehicle settings menu.

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