Media post: Best Accident Prevention Technologies on New Cars

When it comes to driver safety, airbags and seat belts have been used for decades. Now the emphasis is on preventing accidents from happening, whether they’re between vehicles or between vehicles and pedestrians. A lot of these safety features are made possible by the use of central computers, sensors such as radar and lidar and cameras. Here are some of the best accident prevention technologies found on new cars.

Blind Spot Detection

A driver’s blind spot is an area beside or behind the car that they can’t see unless they turn their head and take their eyes off the road ahead of them. They also can’t see the area using their car’s mirrors. Blind spots can cause accidents when the driver tries to change or merge into lanes. Sensors or cameras can now find another vehicle or a pedestrian in the driver’s blind spot and gently warn the driver through lightly activating the brakes or the steering.

Automatic Emergency Brake

This feature, also called AEB activates the brakes when sensors detect an object that’s too close to the car. Another brake feature is rear automatic braking. This activates the brakes when there’s an object behind the car that the driver can’t see as they back up.

Lane Departure Warning

One of the hazards of driving while drowsy is letting the car drift out of its lane. The lane departure warning also uses cameras to detect when this is happening. The system lets the driver know that they’re drifting through beeping, vibrating the driver’s seat or steering wheel or flashing an indicator light. It can be disabled when the driver means to change lanes and activates the turn signal.

Adaptive Cruise Control

This technology controls the speed of the car to make sure it keeps a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of it. Adaptive Cruise Control can be advanced enough to let the car speed up, slow down or even stop and start with not much input from the driver. However, the driver still needs to remain in control. This technology uses cameras or radar.

Forward Collision Warning

Forward collision warning system, or FCW often works with the automatic emergency braking to prevent front-end collisions. It warns the driver that a collision may be imminent through flashing dashboard lights, beeps or vibrations to the driver’s seat. If the driver doesn’t take action, the AEB is activated.

Cross Traffic Alerts

Cross traffic alerts are very much like blind spot alerts, but they focus on what’s happening at the back of the car. This safety system uses radar to let the driver know that a person or vehicle is crossing behind them when they try to back out of a parking space. As with other systems, it uses flashing lights and beeps to warn the driver. It can also cause the car to brake.

Stability Control

This important safety feature helps the driver maintain control and regain it when road conditions are hazardous. It can prevent a vehicle from spinning, skidding or plowing ahead on roads that are wet or icy or if the driver performs a sudden maneuver. Sensors send information about the car’s speed, yaw and position to a central computer. If the computer senses a problem in the offing, it can control systems such as the wheels and engine power to keep the car stable.

Driver Monitoring

Drowsy driving was found to be the tenth leading cause of accidents in the state of California, contributing to 4,000 accidents statewide in 2023. Amazingly, new safety technologies can detect when a driver is becoming too drowsy to operate their car safely. They can also tell when the driver is dangerously distracted. Driver monitoring takes note of such things as how the driver’s eyes are moving to how they’re steering the car. When this system determines that the driver is impaired, it alerts them with blinking lights and beeps. It may even cause the car to brake.