Honda Took Pride in Doing Everything Itself. The Cost of Technology Made That Impossible.

It was part of a brutal day of Japanese government testing for Honda Motor Co. HMC 1.81%, whose vehicle was equipped with a camera and sensors that were supposed to detect obstacles and apply brakes to avoid a collision. The SUV scored 0.2 out of a possible 25 points in the pedestrian portion of the test, the worst among tested vehicles. With its long heritage of technical prowess, Honda was determined to do better--and it did. But Honda engineering didn't get it there. The car maker turned to an off-the-shelf sensing kit from Robert Bosch GmbH, the companies said.