Is Your Car Safe? Here Are 8 Latest Car Safety Features Your Car Must Have
Driving or otherwise, safety should always come first. The year 2019 brought a fresh batch of innovative car safety features along with it. The technological innovations have been successful in making the roads a much safer place. A number of accidents can be avoided or at least better handled with their help.
You can beef up the security of your present car with these smart installations. This will help you in keeping you and your car perfectly safe at all times on the road. Read on to know more about the best and latest in car safety.
8 Latest Car Safety Features
The outdated technology is of no use to anyone. That is why there is so much emphasis on updating everything. Our smartphones to our smart cars, constant updating is required to keep them efficient. The latest string of car safety features changes the whole game. Driving around town will never be a challenge to anyone, anymore.
1. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB)
The severity and frequency of road accidents can be reduced drastically with the help of AEB. It is available in a variety of version suitable for varying speeds and budgets. You need this feature in your car today to keep up with the rapidly evolving car technology.
Currently, there are three main varieties of these systems. First, the basic SEB systems that can help you avoid minor collisions. They work at a lower speed range. Next comes the slightly advanced models. These AEB systems offer protection against severe accidents that might be fatal.
Lastly, we have the ultra-modern AEB systems that can detect pedestrians, cyclists and cars around you. And thus help you avoid getting into any kinds of accidents with them. They will alert you about the imminent collision prospects. And will apply the brakes automatically just before the final moment if you fail to do so.
Basic Specifications
A very audible alarm might be used by the system to alert you against the incoming obstacle. Or, the dashboard lights might give you a clear warning sign to pay attention to this matter immediately. A basic version of this system has been in use since as early as 2008.
They have basically adopted the principles of the Adaptive Cruise Control. A combination of radars, cameras, and the sensors are used to carry out the functioning of the latest AEB systems. The modern-day AEB systems offer as high as 1G of the braking force when automatically activated.
The AEB keeps you and everyone around you safe as you drive around. The sophisticated models have a proper mechanism for precisely locating the incoming traffic. It can even predict which of these people may get in your path. The timely notification lets you change the direction accordingly.
2. Inflatable Seatbelts
These type of seatbelts were introduced by Ford way back in 2011. They have been in a pioneer in making the cars safer for everyone within the vehicle. At present, they are offered for the second-row passengers. They become five times the size of the normal thin seatbelts upon inflation.
This means that the impact of the accident will be diminished by five times. The cushy and secure surface of these seatbelts offers better protection to the elderly and the kids. They are most likely to be traveling in the rear seat.
And, they suffer the most in case of the accidents since no protective gear is available in the second row. This feature is quite affordable considering the multitude of benefits it offers. Hence, there is a greater probability of these inflatable seatbelts being incorporated in all kinds of vehicles soon.
Basic Specifications
Extensive tests have been performed to check their suitability in various situations. They offer maximum protection in the head and the chest regions. The common positions such as sleeping, tilting the head on the seatbelt and others have been thoroughly tested.
The inflatable seatbelts use a cold gas system. The front bags are pyrotechnically charged. Therefore, they seem hot to touch. But the backseat belts are cold. They use the cool compressed gas. This gas is present within a small canister. In case of emergency, a small charge breaks the canister’s seal to release air.
It mainly inflated across the chest region. This way the entire ribcage is given maximum protection upon wearing it during the commute. The inflatable front bags don’t work in case of rollovers. This is because they deflate immediately. However, the inflatable seatbelts remain inflated and useful for the whole six seconds.
3. Parking Sensors
You absolutely need the parking sensors in your car this year. They are very affordable and useful. No one likes parallel parking or any kind of parking for that matter. These sensors can make your job a lot easier and hence quicker.
They can alert you about the other cars, trees or objects present around your car. This way your car won’t have to bear those annoying scratches every single time you park in a rush. You will also not be guilty of accidentally bumping any other car while trying to get out of this parking mess.
Basic Specifications
You can say that the parking sensors are more like a flying bat! Similar to these animals, these sensors use the sound waves to detect the location of nearby objects. The bats do it to avoid running into a pole and other stuff!
The parking sensors of your car use high-frequency sound waves that are inaudible to us. The dogs might act out a bit when you are using this feature though. So, the reflected sound waves are gathered by the receiver. It helps it to calculate the total distance from the surrounding objects.
Advanced parking sensors might project a pictograph on the vehicle’s infotainment screen. Here, the various objects are represented with different color blocks for easy assessment. These systems are further connected to an alarm system to give timely alerts to the driver. The Ultrasonic and Electromagnetic proximity sensors are the main types of parking sensors.
4. Rear-View Cameras
Most of the blindspot accidents take place while going in and out of the garage. And it mainly involves kids and animals that you were unable to spot on time. The rear-view cameras can help you while you are on the road and off it tremendously.
It is always a gamble while changing lanes as you desperately try to scan the blind spot region. Unfortunately, it has become of part of our daily driving experience. This practice often leads to the drifting off into the wrong lane. There needs to be a better way in 2020 to fix such grave matter.
Basic Specifications
The blindspots around and behind your car can be sufficiently scanned with the help of rear-view cameras. This means that you will be able to look more often and hence drive safer. No more household driveway incidents and unfortunate surprises on the road.
You will see them in almost all the major car models in 2020. This will make the roads safer for you and your fellow commuters. You don’t need to wing it anymore and pray for an accident-free ride. The rear-view camera puts your safety in your own hands.
5. Facial Recognition Software
The next best thing in the world of car safety features is the Face Recognition Software. They have revolutionized the way we approach driving completely. Now, it is not just us who needs to monitor everything, all the time. The Face Recognition Software is here to share our driving load.
It keeps track of our head movements, eye blinking frequency, and overall facial expressions. The software has been designed to monitor our level of alertness and drowsiness at all times. This is because over 80% of accidents annually happen as a result of a distracted or fatigued driver.
Basic Specifications
These next-generation biometric technology is already making strides in solving this problem for the car owners. In case of a heightened level of fatigue detection, the system sends noticeable alerts. These are aimed at raising the driver’s attention levels back to normal.
However, if they are ignored, the car will instantly safely park itself to prevent any mishap. The owners also get the facility of personalizing their software. After proper identification, the system will itself adjust your seat, music setting and other features for you.
6. Safety Exit Assist
This is one for all the responsible car owners out there. Kids are curious and it gets the best of them at times. The Safety Exit Assist makes sure that they don’t randomly open the door or the window of the car and get hurt. You will be in control of their total safety throughout the journey.
There are times when the kids get sick of being cooped up in the car on long commutes. They might just want to roll down the window and go too far out the window. You don’t want to take this kind of risk in city traffic. Or, they want to rush through the door even before the car comes to a complete halt. The Safety Exit Assist will keep them safe in all such conditions and more.
Basic Specifications
It will detect the incoming traffic for you and help you make better decisions. There might be a car coming from behind that neither you or your kid is able to stop. But the system does. So it will smartly override your command when you try to disable the lock and open the door unknowingly.
It gives proper visual and acoustic warning in this situation. This way you will be able to avoid a really big disaster and continue your safe journey. Once the coast is clear, you will be able to disable the lock easily. And your kids can go on their merry business safely.
7. Lane Keep Assist System
It works in response to the lane lines. This basically keeps you in the lane when your vehicle is drifting off. However, it might not work properly if the lane lines are faded or are covered with ice or other substance. You will get an alert in the form of vibration or a flash when you are drifting off.
The alert requires you to get back on the lane. If you fail to take any action, the system will gently push you back into the lane. But, if the drift was intentional you can also continue in that direction. You just need to give a gentle tug on the wheel and the system will cease to interfere with your driving.
Basic Specifications
The feature is designed to prevent crashes when people drift off their intended direction and collide with a surrounding vehicle. The system uses the lane markings on the center and the side of the road. The lane markings need to be simple and standard in nature. Complicated or distorted markings won’t work with this system.
It mainly comes handy on the freeways and the arterial roads. The system makes use of three main types sensors – visual, laser and infrared sensors. They help in troubleshooting the silly reasons that might cause collisions. These include driver error, distracted mental state, and drowsiness.
8. Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
This feature also goes by the name of DSC (Dynamic Stability Control). The rains and winters are the worst for driving. Skidding at the least may cause your car to spin on the road. And at the worst may result in fatal accidents. The wet or snow-covered roads are a threat to road safety.
The ESC offers you an easy way out of this problem. It helps your car maintain a better grip on the road and hence prevent skidding. It smartly senses when the driver has lost control of the wheel. This initiated braking sequence thus turning the car where you intended to turn.
Basic Specifications
Just in the US, over one-third of the accidents can be easily prevented by the implementation of this technology. Hence, as of 2014, its inclusion has become mandatory in the USA, Canada, and the European Union. The ECS monitors the vehicle throughout the journey.
This helps the system to promptly act when the driver suddenly loses control over the car during skidding. Though, if you don’t want it to interfere with your driving, you can just press and button and deactivate it easily.
The above-mentioned car safety features are the latest and the best that car technology has to offer this year.
Conclusion
Your car can never be too safe. It is always a good practice to keep your car updated with the latest technology. Make sure you add only those features that make sense in your region and lifestyle. And don’t compromise with the quality while getting one of these installed in your car.
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