Lexus's Vehicle Skid Control, which comes with traction control and electronic brake assist for panic stops, adds $650 to the car's $32,155 base price.

The W8 also has features not available on other Passats, like stability control and emergency brake assist, which applies more pressure in panic stops.

Turning the ignition to the ACC (accessory) position, which, while cutting power to the engine, will also disable the power steering and the brake assist.

If the driver does not react, the system pre-charges the brakes and increases the brake assist sensitivity to maximize driver braking performance.

The latest Crown also uses a GPS-navigation linked brake assist function.

Standard equipment included electronic stability control with roll mitigation, traction control, and anti-lock brakes with brake assist.

So, is brake assist a truly worthwhile safety feature, or is it merely a clever marketing gimmick designed to sell more cars and pump up sticker prices?

In this article, we'll take a look at what allows brake assist to stop cars much more quickly and effectively than the unaided driver can do alone.

Anti-lock brakes are standard, along with electronic brake force distribution and emergency brake assist.

It has been found that 60% of front-rear collisions could be avoided if drivers had brake assist systems and accident avoidance technology.