Car Safety Features

[Jennytrump]

Shatter-resistant glass. Shatter-resistant glass provides a windshield that breaks into numerous, harmless pieces in the event of an accident. The windshields in earlier motor vehicles where dangerous. If the windshield was to brake, the driver would be covered in shards of glass. A shatterproof glass is laminated in such a way as to prevent injuries

Seatbelts. This safety feature, invented in 1849, was not standard equipment until 1966 when the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Act and the Highway Safety Act gave control to the federal government. The federal government formed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA. The NHTSA made it mandatory for all vehicle manufacturers to make seat belts standard in all motor vehicles. Since the 1960's several improvements to seatbelts have been made

Airbags. In 1968, Allen Breed invented the first electronic sensor to set off airbags in the case of an accident. In 1988, Chrysler made airbags standard equipment in all their vehicle models. Chrysler was ahead of the game since it was not until 1998 that airbags became mandatory in all motor vehicles

Anti-lock braking systems. The earliest braking systems in automobiles only applied braking pressure to the rear wheels. During emergency braking situations the rear wheels would lock up, causing the vehicle to slide and swerve to a stop. It was not until the 1920's that four-wheel brakes where introduced. Four wheel brakes helped prevent swerving in an emergency braking situation. The introduction of ABS solved the skidding problem and also allowed the driver to maintain control of steering while braking on slick surfaces

Stability control. Stability control allows drivers to avoid dangerous rollover accidents, by the computer helping to compensate for driver error. If you turned too hard in a vehicle without stability control you may have a rollover accident. If you did the same maneuver in a vehicle with stability control the computer compensates for the amount of oversteer by sending power to different wheels to avoid an accident

 

[Erwin Magalang]

Great list of car safety features. Just want to add some safety features a car. This includes car brake lights, headlights, signal lights, side mirrors, rear view mirror and bumpers. Additionally, with the technology advancement some cars have a blind spot detector and rear-view camera which enhances the safety features of a car. Thanks for sharing this kind of information. This is really helpful to car owners. Will definitely share this post to my friends!

 

[motoent]

Great idea for a thread.

After ABS (anti-lock braking system) and before ESC (electronic stability control) came also ASR (anti slippage regulation), which, if you combine them all especially together with an all wheel drive and active differential, greatly improve control over a car.

On the glass, the windshield (and rear window) does not shatter--the lamination keeps it in one piece like a piece of fabric, even if the glass breaks. They are also mounted in such way that, in case of an accident, the windows can only fall outside the vehicle, not into the cabin. The side windows instead instantly break on impact into many small blunt pieces that you do not cut yourself on (unlike regular broken glass). A company called Sekurit invented this, I believe.

Indeed, lots of a car's interior, including the instrument panel and steering wheel, are designed to absorb impact, while certain things, like the foot pedals, move out of the way in case of a collision.

There is also now collision warning available, which I had in a rental car recently. It recognizes a likely rear-ender based on speed, distance and deceleration of the car in the front, giving an early warning to the inattentive driver to hit the breaks.

Another great safety "feature" would be following the rules:

 

[Erwin Magalang]

Great idea for a thread.

After ABS (anti-lock braking system) and before ESC (electronic stability control) came also ASR (anti slippage regulation), which, if you combine them all especially together with an all wheel drive and active differential, greatly improve control over a car.

On the glass, the windshield (and rear window) does not shatter--the lamination keeps it in one piece like a piece of fabric, even if the glass breaks. They are also mounted in such way that, in case of an accident, the windows can only fall outside the vehicle, not into the cabin. The side windows instead instantly break on impact into many small blunt pieces that you do not cut yourself on (unlike regular broken glass). A company called Sekurit invented this, I believe.

Indeed, lots of a car's interior, including the instrument panel and steering wheel, are designed to absorb impact, while certain things, like the foot pedals, move out of the way in case of a collision.

There is also now collision warning available, which I had in a rental car recently. It recognizes a likely rear-ender based on speed, distance and deceleration of the car in the front, giving an early warning to the inattentive driver to hit the breaks.

Another great safety "feature" would be following the rules:

That's great. Having it shattered externally will limit injuries to the passengers. While on the road, we wouldn't know what will happen to us or what we might experience, which is why having safety features like this will prevent any major injuries when an accident happens. Thanks for sharing this!