3 safety features every new car should have
Nowadays, all the best new cars come with many safety features. Naturally, some are standard, whereas others are add-ons. The hard part of finding the safest cars is that what’s offered at various prices isn’t uniform across the industry. Still, there are some safety features buyers wanting the ultimate protection should insist on having. Spoiler alert: your car should have blind spot detection to help decrease car wrecks.
Many of the best new cars have automatic emergency braking
Many of the best new cars have automatic emergency braking as a standard feature or an add-on. This is one of the most essential features in modern vehicles because it helps lower the number of car wrecks. This feature is found in many of the safest cars and uses sensors to detect vehicles or pedestrians that you could crash into. Naturally, some forms of AEB are more advanced than others.
There are different types of automatic emergency braking. Rear automatic braking is also becoming more common and helps prevent car wrecks while backing up. According to Consumer Reports, starting in 2029, the NHTSA will have new rules in place for AEB requirements. Passenger cars will need to be able to avoid frontal crashes when traveling at speeds upwards of 65 miles per hour.
Additionally, this technology will need to lessen the impact of crashes while going 95 miles per hour. Regarding pedestrians, new cars will need to avoid collisions with them in the light and dark, and this will need to be possible at speeds up to 45 miles per hour.
You should have blind spot detection in your car
Many of the best new cars have blind spot detection. Like many features found in the safest cars, this feature uses a collection of sensors, cameras, and radar to detect oncoming vehicles that may fall outside of your line of vision. This is important because many of the most popular vehicles have excessive blind spots, which could easily cause car accidents while driving. This feature is vital because the NHTSA says over 800,000 car wrecks happen yearly because of blind spots.
Some of the safest cars have lane departure warning
Some of the best new cars on the market have some level of lane departure warning. However, this is commonly an add-on instead of a standard feature in the safest cars. Still, it’s worth the extra cost. Lane departure warning works by using cameras and alerting drivers when they drift outside lane markings. The alerts the system sends can be visual, auditory, or haptic.
Unfortunately, many car wrecks occur because drivers drift out of the lane. Having an alert in your vehicle could save lives.