When you’re buying a car, truck, van, or SUV, it needs to have certain features in order for it to be a good fit for you. Some of the most important features are vehicle safety features. Some are required by law. Some come standard on new vehicles or used vehicles, and some new vehicles have available safety features. If you’re wondering about the most important safety features, check out our top eight vehicle safety features when buying a car.
Vehicle safety features are anything that reduces the chances of an accident or minimizes the effects of an accident on the driver and passengers. The most common vehicle safety features are seat belts and airbags. According to Kelley Blue Book, today all vehicles must have seat belts, air bags, traction control, antilock brakes, stability control, and a backup camera per government mandates.
A report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and a coalition of carmakers found that advanced vehicle safety features help lower the risk of a serious crash by 49%. The report also found that the risk of injury was reduced by 53%.
Whether they’re required by law, standard, or available, these are our top eight vehicle safety features to look for when buying a car.
Air bags have been mandatory in passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and vans since 1999. This mandate only pertains to the front seats, but many automakers provide additional airbags throughout the vehicle, such as knee, side, and inflatable seatbelt airbags. When shopping for a new or used car, find out what type of airbags the vehicle has and how many. If it’s a used car, find out if they’ve ever been deployed. The NHTSA reports that front airbags “front airbags reduce driver fatalities by 29% and fatalities of front-seat passengers age 13 and older by 32%” and airbags plus a lap and shoulder seat belt “reduces the risk of death in frontal crashes by 61%”.
Starting in 2018, backup cameras are standard on all vehicles. A backup camera allows you to see what’s behind you when you’re driving in reverse. The camera alerts you if something enters your path, including another car or a pedestrian, allowing you to stop and avoid a collision.
Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) systems are a required vehicle safety feature. To assist with more effective installation, the LATCH system provides specific points of attachment instead of using seat belts. When car seats are properly installed and secured, children are better protected in the case of a serious crash. If you’re buying a used vehicle made before 1999 it may not have a LATCH system so it’s important to ask if you have children in car seats.
A Tire Pressure Monitoring System, or TPMS, uses a sensor to let you know when one or more of your tires has low pressure. When the TPMS light illuminates, you know it’s time to put more air in your tires. The light will stay on until the tires are properly inflated. Underinflated tires can wear out quicker than usual and can lead to blowouts. Having a TPMS system helps prevent this from happening.
Forward collision warning uses sensors and possibly cameras to monitor the speed of your vehicle, the speed of the car ahead of you, and the distance between the two. If your vehicle gets too close, an alarm or visual warning will be triggered to alert you. As the name suggests, this vehicle safety feature helps prevent forward collisions. Keep in mind that most vehicles don’t take automatic action. This is simply an alert. Some vehicles, though, are equipped with automatic emergency braking.
Automatic emergency braking allows the brakes to automatically engage when something is in the vehicle’s way to help avoid a crash. The driver will be alerted that braking is necessary but if they take too long to react, the emergency braking activates automatically. A report from the NHTSA found that automatic braking systems “will save at least 360 lives a year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually”. A new government mandate will make automatic emergency braking standard on all passenger cars and light-duty trucks by September 2029.
Another important safety feature to look for when buying a car is a blindspot monitoring and warning system. This feature is especially important if you drive often on the highway and change lanes frequently. With blindspot monitoring and warning, your vehicle knows when another vehicle is in your blindspot. If you try to move to a different lane, the vehicle will alert you with a sound, vibration, or visual warning that there’s something in your blindspot. Some vehicles have a blindspot warning light in the side mirrors.
Cruise control has been common in vehicles for many years, but adaptive cruise control is a newer vehicle safety feature. Cameras, lasers, and/or radar to ensure there’s a safe distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. Some vehicles also have lane keep assist that alerts you when you start to move out of your lane’s markings.
With so many standard and available vehicle safety features, it may feel overwhelming to determine which new or used car, truck, SUV, or van is the best fit for you. When it comes to safety, you can see how a certain vehicle ranks with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the NHTSA.
These organizations put vehicles through a range of crash tests to evaluate how safe they are. The IIHS awards the safest vehicles its Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ designation. The NHTSA uses a 5-star scoring system for an overall score as well as individual test scores.
You can also visit the automaker’s website to find out what vehicle safety features come standard and what is available on new vehicles.
Another way to learn more about vehicle safety features is to visit us in Richmond or Ashland and ask one of our Sales Advocates about the safety of an automotive brand or a specific vehicle. After having a conversation about vehicle safety, it’s helpful to take any vehicle you’re interested in for a test drive so you can experience some of the features for yourself.
Whitten Brothers Automotive has a large selection of new and used vehicles for sale in Richmond and Ashland with a range of vehicle safety features. Our new car inventory features the latest safety features. Our used car inventory offers many of the safety features on our list. Explore our inventory online or visit one of our three showrooms to speak to a Sales Advocate about what vehicle safety features come with a new Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, or RAM, or with one of our used vehicles. Contact us to get started or simply come by one of our showrooms.