When looking forward to buying a new vehicle, most people focus on comparing different models, engine capacity, and fuel economy and overlook the advanced safety features.
Beyond the standard features like seatbelts, airbags, traction control, and antilock brakes, consider checking out these six advanced safety features when buying your next car to lower the risk of accidents.
Advanced Safety Features in New Cars
Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control (ACC) is an innovative safety technology that uses sensors, cameras, radar, or lasers to enhance highway safety. This intelligent system works by adjusting your car’s speed to keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead to avoid rear-end collisions.
It detects the relative speed and distance of the vehicle in front and reduces your car’s speed to align with the traffic flow and maintain a pre-set following distance. This minimizes the need for constant speed adjustments and lowers driver fatigue, especially on long journeys. Suppose you are buying a used car with an ADAS system. In that case, it will be best to allow Van Isle ADAS calibration professionals to inspect it and ensure you benefit from this safety feature through recalibrations.
Electronic Stability Control
This revolutionary safety feature enables your vehicle to maintain control and stability on slippery roads. Electronic stability control detects skidding, selectively applies brakes, and decreases engine power to prevent your car from veering off.
It further hinders understeering and oversteering to enhance responsiveness to your inputs and ensure stability. This safety feature can lower the risk of accidents dramatically resulting from loss of control when driving during emergencies and adverse weather conditions.
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
BSM uses cameras or radar to help drivers know if other vehicles are in blind spots that cannot be seen through the side mirrors. This safety tool tracks adjacent lanes and alerts you when another car gets to the blind spot zone. The real-time feedback comes in handy in enhancing the driver’s visibility, cultivating safer driving practices, and lowering the risk of collisions.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Tires are crucial car components and are among the most vulnerable to damage. Any drastic changes in temperatures can lower their pressure, resulting in increased wear or blowouts. TPMS lets you maintain optimal tire pressure all the time, enhancing vehicle safety. The system alerts you of underinflated tires, lowering the risk of flat tires and boosting overall car performance.
Forward Collision Warning
The forward collision warning system works hand-in-hand with autonomous emergency braking to detect and notify you of possible frontal collisions and other hazards. If the driver fails to respond swiftly, autonomous emergency braking applies the brakes automatically to lower the impact speed or prevent the car from moving completely. This leads to enhanced road safety, reducing the severity of frontal collisions, which makes driving safer for pedestrians and drivers.
Lane Keeping Assist and Lane Departure Warning
These cutting-edge safety technologies help minimize unintentional lane drifting to promote road safety. They rely on sensors or cameras to track the car’s position within a certain lane and notify drivers if drifting happens without a turn signal.
Lane keeping assist takes it a step higher by actively guiding the vehicle to the right position in the lane. These systems can hinder the risk of accidents resulting from distraction, adverse weather conditions, and drowsiness.
FAQ – Advanced Safety Features
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) maintains a set speed while adjusting to the traffic ahead. It slows down when it detects a slower vehicle and accelerates back to your pre-set speed when the road is clear. This feature helps reduce the risk of rear-end collisions, especially in stop-and-go traffic, by keeping a safe distance from the car in front.
Lane Departure Warning (LDW) alerts the driver if the car starts to drift out of its lane without signaling. This feature is particularly helpful in preventing accidents caused by unintentional lane changes, such as during long drives when driver fatigue might set in.
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) detects an imminent collision with another vehicle or object and applies the brakes if the driver doesn’t respond in time. This can significantly reduce the severity of an impact or even prevent a crash entirely, making it one of the most crucial safety features in modern cars.
Blind-Spot Monitoring (BSM) uses sensors to detect vehicles in your blind spots and alerts you if a car is present. This helps avoid collisions during lane changes, especially on busy highways, where it’s easy to miss vehicles coming up on the side.
A 360-degree camera system provides a bird’s-eye view of the car’s surroundings, helping drivers navigate tight parking spaces and avoid obstacles. This feature is particularly useful for parents when parking in crowded school lots or busy grocery store parking areas.
Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (RCTA) monitors traffic behind you while reversing and warns of approaching vehicles or pedestrians. This feature is invaluable in preventing accidents when backing out of driveways or parking spaces, where visibility is limited.
These advanced safety features are here to make driving safer by eliminating errors. Most recent car models have these features installed. However, it is best to always check before buying your vehicle to ensure you enjoy frictionless driving.
