Safety first

Vehicle safety has been a prominent topic in the news media this year, mostly from the Toyota recalls related to unintended acceleration. There are many things to consider with safety so let me highlight a couple areas to look at:

Crash Protection
One of the most important components to vehicle safety is how it can withstand an impact. There are many designs engineered to help protect vehicle occupants like air bags, crumple zones, and reinforced frames. Air bags are just that, bags that inflate to help cushion the body against impact. Many new models have two front airbags, side airbags in the seats and now curtain airbags that to across the interior roof of the car. These dramatically improve the injury prevention rates, according to consumer reports. Crumple zones are areas of metal, designed to absorb the energy of an impact and give away first, locating the destructive forces to certain areas of the vehicles. This helps by keeping the damage located to specific areas of the car and away from the vehicle occupants. Reinforced frames are nothing new in vehicles, but are very important. Basically there would be extra frames in the doors and/or body of the car. This is an added shield to help take the damage of the force in an impact. All of these things combined can help keep the damage away from occupants and keep drivers and passengers from taking more injuries than necessary. IIHS has some easy to read crash ratings, I recommend looking at their testing and reading about how vehicles performed in testing if you are considering a new vehicle.

IIHS


Emergency Handling
This is sometimes an overlooked area of safety. A martial arts concept is the best way to avoid an injury is to not be there. Well, in the case of cars if you don't have to rely on the crash protection then that is better than taking the hit! Newer technology like Stability control is available on most vehicles and will be required in the 2012 model year. Stability control is a wonderful option which helps keep a car on its intended path. In slippery conditions for example, if the rear of a car kicks out the brakes can be applied to individual wheels to redirect the car on its path. Sometimes cutting speed to individual wheels is the best way to course correct. Another key feature found in many vehicles now is traction control. This will cut power to the wheels if slippage is detected by the main computer and will only allow enough power to move the wheels slightly. This is great in the snow and can help you from being stuck in adverse conditions. It also works in motion and can possibly prevent slippage in snow or ice.

There are many things to look for in a vehicle but by creating your checklist in advance you can narrow your options in the research phase, even before you leave your home. Be safe, and happy (controlled) driving!

-Jason