Airbags used to be considered “high-tech.” Can you believe that? Car safety features get fancier and fancier as the years go by. Before we talk about the future, let’s have a quick history lesson.

The old trend: protection

Henry Ford made the car affordable for American families in 1920. Those cars didn’t have seat belts.

The 3-point safety belt you know didn’t become standard until 1966. Most Americans didn’t use them until the 90’s, because they were afraid they would get stuck inside a burning vehicle. Since then, seat belt use has reached 85%.

Airbags had an uphill struggle too. John W. Hetrick drove into a ditch in 1952. He positioned his body in a way that prevented his daughter from hitting the dashboard. He dreamed of a safety device that would cushion people’s blows during a car accident. Good idea, but it took many decades of testing to get the airbag to work as John envisioned.

The new trend: prevention

Old safety devices like the seat belt and airbag are made to protect you from injury during an accident.

New safety devices like the ones listed below are made to prevent an accident from ever occurring. Protection is nice, but prevention is definitely an improvement for driver safety and well-being. Okay, let’s dive straight into it.

1. Parking assist

This device is a life-saver for people who hate parallel parking. A sensor detects the size of a parking space. It passes that information to the operating system, which automatically directs your vehicle into position. Neat.

2. Back-up camera

It’s scary to back out of a tight spot. These cameras offer an up-close-and-personal view of a driver’s surroundings. Imagine: you’ll never back into another person’s car again! This is especially helpful when combined with reverse backup sensors, which beep if you get too close for comfort.

3. Autonomous braking

There are sensors on the front-side of some cars, too. If a driver gets too close to a car or pedestrian, an alarm goes off. If they don’t respond in time, the system automatically engages the brakes to prevent or lessen the impact of a collision.

4. Adaptive cruise control

Adaptive cruise control makes use of forward-facing sensors just like autonomous braking. Cameras and radar detect the distance between vehicles. If a car is following too closely, the system automatically slows down. If the flow of traffic picks up, the system speeds up. Wouldn’t this be nice to have on your next road trip?

5. Cars that drive themselves

Google says self-driving cars will be ready by 2020. That sounds like an audacious prediction, but it’s not. Self-driving cars simply combine the car safety features listed here in a way that makes the car super smart. Pretty cool, huh? Please share this post with your friends so they can be excited for the future too. Thanks! 🙂

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