Car safety technology has undoubtedly come a very long way. According to Dave Abels, “Roughly one quarter of all passenger vehicle occupant accident fatalities in the United States occur from side-impact collisions. And while frontal impacts remain the front-runner in causing accident fatalities, frontal impact fatality numbers are steadily declining, while side-impact fatalities are remaining more constant, or even increasing, as the number or vehicles on the roads increases.”
Whereas the earliest safety features may have been simply focused on keeping the car capable of withstanding the outright physical impact of things like side-impact collisions, the modern automobile is outfitted with gadgets that are far more technologically sophisticated than ever before. The following are just a few of the most notable gadgets in modern cars that make them the safest things to drive on the planet.
Emergency Accident Response System (EARS)
With EARS, a car can automatically terminate its fuel and unlock all of the doors as soon as the airbags have been deployed. In certain models, the EARS may signal for the car to immediately catalog the details of the crash within dedicated response sensors so that emergency personnel who arrive on the scene can get a better idea of exactly what happened.
Adaptive Cruise Control
When it was invented for the very first time, cruise control was primarily intended just to make sure that the car could maintain a consistent speed. In modern times, cruise control has been dramatically developed into a new state that makes use of sophisticated radar and sensor technology. Modern cruise control has the ability to directly affect the brakes to make sure that cars directly in front of the vehicle don’t become sudden hazard if the speed of traffic suddenly changes.
Lane-Departure Warnings
In a similar fashion to the way that cruise control has evolved, blind-spot detection technology has evolved as well. With lean-departure warning technology, a car can remotely determine the speed of another approaching vehicle to provide an auditory warning if you intend to change lanes or start to drift slightly.
Rollover Mitigation
Many cars are outfitted with a special preparation system that extends role bars and tightens seatbelts in the event of a potential rollover. Modern rollover mitigation makes signals for the car to modulate the throttle and apply the brakes if a potential rollover is detected. Electronic rollover mitigation can brace the car for any potential rollover by detecting something as subtle as a corner being turned too quickly.
Emergency Collision Mitigation
Emergency collision mitigation is a modern improvement upon conventional electronic brake force distribution technology. This safety gadget can ensure that whenever the driver suddenly stops by making a quick shift from gas to break, additional brake pressure is allotted to help cut the stopping distance down to an even shorter amount of time.
Summary
Some of the coolest gadgets making modern cars safer today include emergency collision mitigation, rollover mitigation, lane-departure warnings, adaptive cruise control and the Emergency Accident Response System (EARS). With so many brand new automotive innovations on the horizon, there’s no telling how much potential today’s coolest car safety gadgets may have to evolve even further.