If you’re in the market for a new car, there’s a lot of thought that goes into making that final decision. You may consider the cost of the vehicle, cost of insuring it, the make and model, or even its colour – but what about its safety features?
Choosing the right car with the right safety features can provide many benefits beyond just discounts from your car insurance company. Don’t know where to start? Well, the Good Hands Advice team has put together its top five safety features to consider when purchasing a new car.
What Safety Features Do Most New Cars Have?
Some of the best safety features for cars are ones that utilize Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (or ADAS). The term ADAS, is an all-encompassing acronym to describe any feature that helps to mitigate potential accidents by alerting the driver to a potential issue. Here are some examples.
Active Parking Assistance
What Does it Do – According to Transport Canada, active parking assistance systems help you parallel park or back into a parking spot by using sensors that scan for suitable spaces that your vehicle has passed.
What Are the Benefits – If you’re not the most confident in reverse or parallel parking, the benefit of this feature is that it may help safely park without worrying about damaging your car or another’s. However, be warned that this feature is not meant to be a substitute to paying attention while you park.
Blind Spot Detection
What Does it Do – The blind spot detection is a series of sensors or rear-view cameras installed in your vehicle that helps to detect other vehicles that are beside you, typically in a spot where some rear-view or side-view mirrors don’t capture (depending on their position).
What Are the Benefits – While you should check your side mirrors and over your shoulder before merging lanes, the blind spot detection can alert you (whether audibly or visually) that there is a vehicle in your blind spot. If you see the lane departure warning, wait until the car has safely passed you, check your surroundings, and proceed when clear.
Lane Keeping Assist
What Does it Do – Similarly to the blind spot detection feature, the lane keeping assist (which may include lane centering or lane change assistance) has sensors installed in your vehicle to detect the lines on the road to help make sure you remain in your lane. If the car begins to drift to another lane, and you have not indicated otherwise, your car will emit a sound to notify you to remain in your designated lane.
What Are the Benefits – There could be many reasons why you may drift to another lane, but the benefit of this feature is that it can alert you to regain control of your vehicle. This is beneficial as it may help to reduce the likelihood of your car being in a collision.
Speed Alert
What Does it Do – This technology utilizes sensors found in your car to read the speed limit information and remind drivers of the current speed limit. This often comes with a visual or audible alert to notify the driver to drive within the speed limit.
What Are the Benefits – It can be easy to begin accelerating or decelerating while driving. The benefit of this technology is that it keeps your driving habits in check to ensure that you are driving within the appropriate speed limit – thereby reducing the risk of being involved in a speed-based collision or being stopped by a police officer.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
What Does it Do – The tire pressure monitoring system does exactly as the name suggest – it monitors your tires’ air pressure.
What Are the Benefits – Tires may deflate for a variety of reasons; this can be due to your tires having a hole, cold weather, or simply over time due to wear and tear. So, this feature is important to ensure your tires are the recommended pressure for fuel efficiency and control.
While not an extensive list, it’s a good start when considering which safety features should be present in your next car.
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