Tuesday, October 14, 2008

SAFETY AND MORE

In my previous post, I have included several tips on how you will prevent car accidents and be safe all through out your ride through your tires. Now, I am featuring high-tech car safety technologies that may caught your interest to be equipped you ride for your personal safety. These safety technologies are appeared to be reliable in avoiding accidents in the road. So, here its is!
1. Tire-pressure monitoring. These includes sensors at the wheels are able to alert you if the air pressure is too low by an audible warning, a light on the instrument panel, or both. You may also see more cars with run-flat tires, which allow a vehicle to continue to run at a relatively high rate of speed for 50-plus miles. This technology would surely help you in avoiding flat tires and other undesirable circumstances.
2. Adaptive cruise control/collision mitigation. This technology maintains the constant speed of your ride. Also it is equipped with sensors and utilize radar. This amazing technology can now adjust the throttle and brakes to keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you if there are changes in traffic speed or if a slowpoke cuts in. If the system senses a potential collision, it typically will brake hard and tighten the seatbelts. Once it knows the lane is clear or traffic has sped up, it will return your car to its original cruising speed, all without your input. Of course, you may override the system by touching the brakes. The Mercedes-Benz and Maybach systems go by a less obvious name: Distronic.
3. Blind-spot detection/side assist/collision warning
This technology is designed to alert you to cars or objects in your blind spot during driving or parking, or both. Usually it will respond when you put on your turn signal; if it detects something in the way, it may flash a light in your mirror, cause the seat or steering wheel to vibrate, or sound an alarm. This is more of a short-range detection system.
4. Lane-departure warning/wake-you-up safety
This is similar to blind-spot/side-assist technology but with more range. It judges an approaching vehicle’s speed and distance to warn you of potential danger if you change lanes. It can also warn if it determines your car is wandering out of the lane, which could be useful if you become distracted. This could come in the form of a vibration through the seat or steering wheel, or an alarm. Also, this helps the driver in monitoring body posture, head position and eye activity to decide if the driver is falling asleep and the vehicle is behaving erratically.
5. Occupant-sensitive/dual-stage airbags. This technology can sense the different sizes and weights of occupants as well as seatbelt usage, abnormal seating position, rear-facing child seats and even vehicle speed. While driver, passenger and side curtain airbags are nothing new, sensing airbags are popping up everywhere.
6. Emergency brake assist/collision mitigation. This technology recognizes when the driver makes a panic stop and will apply additional brake pressure to help shorten the stopping distance. It may also work in conjunction with the smart cruise control or stability control system in some vehicles if it senses a potential collision.
7. Adaptive headlights and/or night-vision assist. This amazing safety technology generates an image through a cockpit display, brightening the objects that are hard to see with the naked eye. Adaptive headlights follow the direction of the vehicle. They may also be speed-sensitive, or compensate for ambient light.
8. Rearview camera cameras not only protect your car, but also protect children and animals from accidental back-overs. Backing up your car has graduated from side mirrors tilting down or causing chirps and beeps to real-time viewing.