It wasn’t that many years ago that airbags and antilock brakes were considered “optional” equipment in cars, if they were available at all.
Now they’re standard in every new vehicle sold in the US. And automakers have continued to leverage technological advances to vastly improve the safety features available.
So if you’re in the market for a new car, these are the advanced safety features you should be looking for when you’re considering your next vehicle.
1. Forward collision warning system & Automatic braking
Forward collision warning (FCW) systems monitors your vehicle’s speed, the speed of the vehicle in front of you and the distance between your vehicles. If you’re approaching the car in front of you too fast (e.g., because you got distracted by the kids fighting in the back seat again), the FCW system will warn you that a crash is imminent, giving you time to hit the brakes to avoid (or at least lessen the impact of) a collision.
More advanced FCW systems will be paired with automatic emergency braking (AEB), as well. So if you don’t hit the brakes quickly enough (or with enough force) the AEB system will automatically apply the brakes to prevent a crash.
In addition to vehicle detection, some manufacturers are also designing these systems to detect and avoid collisions with pedestrians, as well.
2. Lane departure warning & Lane departure assist
Kids still distracting you? Well, if you start to drift out of your lane without using your turn signal, a lane departure warning system will give you a visual and audio heads-up so you can steer back into your lane before you cross over the center divider or run off the road. Some systems will even send vibrations through your seat cushion (General Motors vehicles) or steering wheel (Lincoln and Ford) to remind you to get back in your lane.
Similar to the combination of forward collision systems and auto-braking, some manufacturers are pairing the lane departure warning systems with a lane departure assist feature that will steer the car back into line for you.
3. Blind spot warning system
The idea here is pretty simple: you’re changing lanes and you don’t see a vehicle in your blind spot – but the blind spot warning system does, giving you a visual and audio warning to stay in your lane. This cam also can be helpful when vehicles are approaching your blind spot at unexpectedly high speeds. The warning light is either built into the side view mirrors or the dashboard, depending on the vehicle manufacturer.
Read more of the original article at Techlicious.
