The automobile industry has been around for more than 100 years and during that time automobiles have made considerable technical advances. There was a time when autos were slow, drank lots of fuel, prone to breaking down all the time, and very unsafe for occupants.
Over the decades automobile manufacturers have courted advances to improve on each of these areas. This is an ongoing aspect of motor vehicles and each new decade brings more advances that improve cars, trucks and motorctycles.
With the advent of computers, there have been major advances in auto tech that promise to take autos to new levels of efficiency and safety. This has translated into savings in lives and on auto-related costs for things like auto insurance.
In fact, if you compare auto insurance quotes for models of cars with and without new auto tech you will find drastic savings for cars that have it. So to save you money and improve your safety, here are a few of the most important advances.
New Airbag Technology
Airbags in cars were introduced nearly twenty years ago and had an immediate effect on improving the safety of passengers. As time has gone on the number of air bags have increased from one for the driver to up to 12 that will protect every passenger in the vehicle.
There are now side and curtain airbags, and ones that protect the legs as well. Companies have also improved and how airbags deploy making them safer for passengers and drivers. The result is that no matter which direction your car is hit, you will be protected.
Collision Avoidance
Collision Avoidance technology is an electronic automotive system that with no driver input will avoid a collision or act on its own to reduce the severity of an imminent collision
These systems utilize radar, lasers, GPS, mounted around the vehicle to detect moving and stationary objects. They monitor the situation around your vehicle in real time and thousands of times per second. They assess the path and speed that your vehicle is traveling and can detect if it is heading for a collision with another vehicle or object in range.
If a crash is imminent or even likely, first there is an alert to the driver. The car then literally tells the driver what actions to take to avoid the accident. There might be an audio message to speed up, slow down, or brake.
If the driver does not respond quickly enough, the car will go into action and take the necessary steps to try and avoid a collision or to make it less harmful.
A collision avoidance system can act many time faster than a driver and can detect many different potential issues simultaneously. As a result, it can do a better job at keeping a driver and other passengers alive while in the automobile.
Today’s new tech sets the highest standards for safety and also creates a foundation for tomorrow’s cars that are drivels.