How Automobile Safety Has Changed Over the Last Decade
When it comes to motor vehicles, the past decade gave us a substantial improvement in aspects like performance, fuel efficiency, entertainment, and safety. But among all these separate areas, it is perhaps the field of safety and security that has advanced the most. By the year 2001, the average car in America had at least two airbags; today most have four.
It’s not uncommon to find premium range vehicles with 10 or more airbags, ready to fling into action whenever necessary. It’s not only airbags that saw a rapid evolution, but the entire car safety package that’s been modified and upgraded. From 2006, the advancement in car technology saw a tremendous growth, leading to the place we are at today.
A decade of change
Even though many safety innovations went on to be utterly useless or unsuccessful, many new features were added in automobiles over the past 10 years. No, we’re not talking about a modified version of the 1997 O’ Leary Fender that had a moronic cow-catcher of a mesh that was supposed to shove pedestrians aside.
We are talking about features like automatic brakes, 360-degree viewing, electronic stability control, cruise control satellite navigation, and other such goodies. Moreover, the definition of safety has also changed to a point where a car made of lighter materials is now considered to be safer than their heavier counterparts.
Even though the features that are branded under “safety and security” are essential, not every one of them is worth having. This is particularly the case when you’re looking for a budget vehicle and don’t have or want to spend on lavish safety features. That is not to say elements like antiskid control and electronic traction control are not worth having.
A better way to navigate
The days of unfolding a map and frantically looking for roads and alleyways have long passed. Now everyone, from your friendly Uber driver to the elderly gentleman from across the street, uses navigation technology to find their way around places. The impact of this feature on people’s lives has been so great that it deserves a special mention.
Mainstream electronic navigation was t even before 2000, but mostly as a concept used in video games and sci-fi movies. Who would have thought we’d come this far when electronic navigation would become mainstream? Car accident attorneys like Gruber Law have also contributed to making driving safer, though in a different way.
What does the next decade have in store?
Nowadays, we’ve got a myriad of computer-aided safety features that prevent us from backing up into another vehicle, veering out of our lane, running into a vehicle that in front of us, spinning out flipping over, etc. The future certainly looks bright from where we are now as cars are being trained to drive themselves.
Yes, it won’t take very long for Google’s self-driving cars to hit the streets as the prototypes, which were in their test phase is showing a lot of promise. When all these exceptional features are brought together with advanced driver learning and education, we might soon see the day when car accident fatalities are considered a thing of the past.