5 Brand New Car Safety Systems To Keep You Safe
Accidents on the road happen more often than you think. The seatbelt was invented as a safety system to reduce the rate of fatalities on the road back in 1959 by Nils Bohlin for Volvo and has since become one of the staple things in all passenger cars. However, the seatbelt, and subsequently the airbags, are only effective in the event of a collision.
Today, we’re going to look at the top 5 car safety systems that will help prevent an accident from happening! We feel that pretty soon, these car safety systems will have to be present in all cars.
1. Driver Alert Control System
Image from: Youtube
This system was pioneered by Volvo in 2007. The Driver Alert Control System is basically made for situations when the driver has lost concentration or is dozing off on the wheel, the system monitors the car’s movement and is able to tell if the driver is in control of the vehicle. Studies have shown that over two thirds of drivers who fall asleep at the wheel are injured in an accident, with a number of these being fatal. Volvo’s system, when active, alerts the driver with an audible signal and displays a coffee cup symbol on the dashboard.
Similar technologies have been implemented by different car manufacturers, including Audi’s Rest Recommendation, BMW’s Active Protection, Mercedes-Benz’s Attention Assist, Ford’s Driver Alert System and Volkswagen’s Fatigue Detection.
2. Lane Keeping Assist System
Image from: AutoEvolution
Often, whether it’s distracted driving by fumbling with a phone, or drowsy driving, you may not notice that your car is swerving into another lane. This is where the Lane Keeping Assist System comes into play. The system uses a camera monitoring system in the vehicle to keep track of the road’s lines, and if the car starts to swerve to another lane, there will be a vibration on the steering wheel to notify the driver. Should no action be taken, if the car veers over the solid line on the road, the system will apply the brakes on the opposite side of the vehicle and steer the car back into the lane.
Similar technologies have been implemented by different car manufacturers, including Ford’s Lane Keeping System Mercedes-Benz’ Active Lane Keeping Assist, Audi’s Active Lane Assist, BMW, Mazda and Nissan’s Lane Departure Warning, Lexus’ Lane Departure Alert and Honda’s Sensing Lane Keeping Assist.
3. Blind Spot Information System
Image from: Carisos
When you’re driving, the most important thing you must remember when changing lanes is that you must signal, check your mirrors before actually changing lanes. But, a lot of people don’t consider blind spots, which can be dangerous when you’re changing lanes and don’t notice a car speeding by. With the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), radar sensors are installed at the sides of the car and helps to scan for vehicles around you. How it works is that a red warning signal will illuminate within the glass of the side mirror. The system will continuously beep to prevent a collision when the driver turns on his signal to change lanes. If there is an oncoming vehicle and the driver still unknowingly makes a turn the system will detect it and brake to bring the car back to its original lane.
Similar technologies have been implemented by different car manufacturers, including BMW & Mercedes-Benz’s Active Blind Spot Detection, Toyota & Mazda’s Blind Spot Monitoring, and Ford & Volvo’s Blind Spot Information System.
4. Frontal Collision Warning System
Image from: Safe Drive System
Most car accidents happen when there is bumper-to-bumper traffic, and careless drivers crash into each other. This is where the Frontal Collision Warning System comes into play. This system stops the car before the accident happens, by using a radar system and a computer to calculate the distance between vehicles. The smart computer will sense that a collision is imminent, and the automatic brakes are applied. This will save you the hassle and inconveniences of a minor accident, and it can slash the percentage of a major accident happening. The latest version of this technology can be found in Infiniti’s latest Q50 sedan, where it uses a Predictive Forward Collision Warning system to detect the speed of two vehicles ahead, making it the world’s first.
Similar technologies have been implemented by different car manufacturers, including Audi ‘s Pre-Sense Avoidance Assist, BMW’s Adaptive Brake Assistant, Ford’s Collision Warning with Brake Support, Peugeot’s Emergency Collision Braking System, Mazda’s Smart City Brake Support and Volvo’s City Safety.
5. Parking Assist
Image from: MyCarDictionary
Parking may be the single most important thing you have to learn when it comes to driving (where else are you going to leave your car?) but not everyone knows how to park well enough. Hence, the parking assist, to help you out when you need to parallel park or reverse park. The third generation of the Ford Focus first introduced the idea of a parking assist in the car. Dubbed the Active Park Assist, the system senses the empty parking lot after the driver activates it, where the only next thing needed is to engage the car into reverse and apply the brakes as it rolls into position. The 2016 BMW 7 Series’ Parking Assistant takes this a step further by allowing both perpendicular and parallel parking automatically, but with the driver holding down on the button as it manoeuvres into the available parking lot.
Similar technologies have been implemented by different car manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz & Ford’s Active Park Assist, BMW’s Park Assistant and Volvo’s Park Assist Pilot.
As car safety systems get more advanced and with the impending arrival of the automated cars, it’s our wish that our cars will soon be able to not only drive well, but keep us all safe and sound.
What do you think? Leave a comment below!