Ten Safety Features that May Save Your Life

Written By: MyRide.com
Reprinted under license.

Live to drive another day

Introduction

"It's got side airbags and stability control? Great. Now how about that rear DVD system to keep the kids out of my hair?"

As shoppers, we focus more on what we can see and touch rather than those hidden bits and pieces that make sure we walk away from a head-on collision with a concrete wall. A salesperson's cursory description of a vehicle's safety features is good enough for most of us, but by golly we'll spend ten minutes making sure the audio system offers concert hall quality sound.

And then there's that split-second impact with a guard rail at 60 mph. After spinning off of the road and slamming into a tree, top notch sound still plays out of those premium speakers and, thankfully, you're still around to hear it - you're not like the 42,642 people who died in vehicle crashes in 2006. All of a sudden there's a profound appreciation for the seatbelt around your body, and the now-deflated airbags hanging from the roof and the steering wheel. If we, as car shoppers, spent half as much time focusing on the workings and limitations of features like stability control and antilock brakes as is dedicated to figuring out how to operate the navigation system, we'd likely be much better off. And, as discussed on page 2, even a quick click of the trusty old seatbelt would benefit thousands of drivers.

Fact is, safety features save lives. With data gathered from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), we've compiled a list of the five top safety systems in terms of estimated lives saved annually. Also included are various items for which hard data is not available, though given a choice of having a vehicle with or without them, we'd undoubtedly check off the option box every time.

On a side note, you may notice that antilock brakes are absent from our list. According to the IIHS, vehicles equipped with antilock brakes are actually more likely to be involved in fatal single car accidents. The possible causes range from incorrect use of the system (pumping the brakes), feeling the ABS kick in and subsequently releasing brake pressure too soon, or falsely assuming that antilock brakes will offset the effects of aggressive maneuvering that results in a spin.

Seatbelts

Seatbelts are the most basic of all vehicle safety systems. Get in the car, pull the belt over your body, click it in, and you're done. Easy, right? Right. But still people forget, or they don't like that "constrained" feeling, or they oppose the law telling them what to do in their own car. Fair enough, though forgetting seems to be a stretch, since most new autos come with some sort of seatbelt reminder chime or warning light. Clearly they're unaware of the fact that 5,441 lives would have been saved in 2006 if those people had just buckled up.

That statistic is due in no small part to seatbelt laws in 26 states, where police can pull over a vehicle when the occupants aren't wearing a seatbelt. In these states, the men and women in blue don't need to justify their action with a faulty headlight or a failure-to-signal violation.

Advancements associated with seatbelts include pretensioners, load limiters, and three- and four-point harnesses. Upon impact, pretensioners tighten the seatbelt to remove slack that could allow for harmful body movement. After the impact, load limiters allow for a bit of give to lessen pressure on the occupant.

Three-point seatbelts, those that cover a passenger's chest and lap, reduce front occupant fatality risk by 45 percent in passenger cars (compared to unbelted passengers), 44 percent for rear seat passengers, and 15 percent compared to rear seat passengers using a lap belt only. More importantly, for rear seat passengers using three-point belts rather than lap belts, abdominal injuries are cut by 52 percent and head injuries by 47 percent, based on NHTSA data.

Four-point seatbelts, which typically include two vertical straps covering an occupant's chest and clicking into a lower lap belt, have been used in racing cars for years and are currently being tested by companies like Volvo for passenger car application. The idea is that the four-point belts will be better able to distribute crash forces while also keeping passengers firmly seated in the event of a rollover.

Continue to Ten Safety Features that May Save Your Life from MyRide.com

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