Safety should be one of your top priorities if you are in the market for a new vehicle. After all, you’ll entrust your life to this machine whenever you get behind the wheel. When researching vehicles, look beyond the flashy styling or horsepower numbers. Pay attention to the advanced safety system and how well it can help avoid an accident. Here are the top six safety features to research before buying a new vehicle. Ready? Let’s get started!
1. Lane Departure Warning
This helpful feature alerts you if your vehicle drifts out of your lane without signaling. Sensors monitor the lane markings on the road and warn you, often with audible signals and vibration in the steering wheel or braking to keep you on course.
Look for a system with adjustable sensitivity to turn it off on curvy roads that may trigger false alarms. But lane departure warning is a great safety net when driving in heavy traffic or on a highway. It gives an extra set of eyes on the road to help avoid the dangers of drifting where you don’t belong.
2. Adaptive Cruise Control
Adaptive cruise control, sometimes called active cruise control, is an intelligent system that automatically adjusts your speed to maintain a safe distance from the car in front of you.
How Does Cruise Control Work?
Sensors detect the distance and speed of vehicles in front of you. If traffic slows, the system applies the brakes to match one of the vehicles ahead. Once the road clears, your car accelerates back to the set speed.
3. Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
ESC helps avoid hazardous skids and loss of control by automatically applying the brakes to one or more wheels and reducing engine power when the vehicle is swerving.
ESC provides an essential layer of protection for the most common causes of loss of control and vehicle rollover. For the best protection, look for ESC combined with other advanced safety techs like brake assist, traction control, and anti-lock brakes.
4. Pedestrian Auto Emergency Braking
Emergency braking systems detect pedestrians in the vehicle’s path and automatically apply brakes to mitigate a collision. This safety feature uses radar, cameras, and sensors to identify individuals walking behind or in front of your vehicle. The beauty is that if this system detects an imminent collision, it will activate the brakes to avoid hitting the pedestrian.
5. Reversing Cameras
Also known as backup cameras, reversing cameras provide an extra set of eyes to help avoid an accident. This safety feature gives you a view of blind spots behind the vehicle that you can’t see in your mirrors. For a more comprehensive view, some systems offer multiple camera angles, like 180º or 360º.
When shopping for a new vehicle, look for a model with a high-quality reversing camera to give you peace of mind each time you put the car in reverse.
6. Traffic Sign Recognition
Most vehicles now have traffic sign recognition technology to detect stop signs, speed limit signs, and other road signs to help keep you safe. This advanced safety feature uses a forward-facing camera to capture images of traffic signs as you drive by them. The vehicle’s system then analyzes the images and provides an alert displaying the sign information on your infotainment screen or dashboard.
While style, power, and performance are exciting to evaluate, safety should be on your list. Research on the latest technologies like lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, electronic stability control, pedestrian auto emergency braking, reverse cameras, and traffic sign control.
