What Is the Safest Car on the Road?

Posted Friday, Oct 28, 2022

When buying a car, one of your top priorities must be safety. With recent technological advances, safety features have become increasingly affordable and have been more commonly incorporated into more cars. However, if you want to have the most efficient and reliable features, you have to think of your safety as an investment and set a good budget for your vehicle. One way of getting the best safety features for a good price is purchasing a pre-owned car. To make sure you are choosing a safe vehicle, we will tell you what features you should look for and which cars stand out for their safety scores.

 

Key Safety Features

As automotive technology has developed, making it possible to reach record speeds and giving more autonomy to vehicles, it has become increasingly pressing to improve a car’s safety. There are two types of safety measures in automobiles: one is to prevent accidents from happening and the other is to reduce damage upon impact. Some of these measures have been in the market for a long time while others have been introduced in the past decade, changing the game of car safety. Let's take a tour of the most important safety features to consider when buying a vehicle.

Airbags

Airbags are one of the longest-established safety measures for cars. They have been around for more than fifty years, and have been improved over the decades. In 1998, it became mandatory that every car and light truck have airbags on the front seats. However, after years of testing and research, it became clear that additional airbags would better protect you and your passengers in case of an accident. Today, most cars include side airbags as a standard feature. You can also find knee airbags, rear seat airbags, and inflatable seat belts.

Anti-Lock Braking System 

Before anti-lock brakes, it was fairly common that the rear wheels would lock up during an emergency braking, keeping you from maintaining control of your car. An anti-lock braking system uses sensors to monitor your car wheels. When these sensors detect hard braking, they prevent the wheels from locking up by rapidly reducing and increasing pressure on the brakes, allowing you to maintain control of the steering. Some drivers tend to pump the brakes or release them altogether when they feel the pulsing sensation. This will cause the anti-lock braking system to malfunction. To properly use it, you must maintain continuous pressure on the pedal until you regain control of the situation.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

ESC helps you maintain control of your vehicle when you have to do an abrupt turn as a result of a sharp curve, unexpected car, or obstacle. This is a complex system that is composed of sensors placed in different parts of your car to detect the direction in which your car is going, the position of the wheels, and the pressure on the brakes. If it detects you turned too hard, ESC will compensate by braking the required wheels, stabilizing the steering motion. This feature is essential, as it prevents you from going off the road or even rolling over.

Blind-Spot Monitoring 

Sensors and cameras work to identify drivers that are close to you that are located in your blind spot. Blind-spot monitoring has different versions. The most common one will alert you by flashing lights on your side view mirrors. Others will sound an alarm if you intend to switch to the lane that the vehicle is in. Some more advanced systems can brake or steer your vehicle in a safe direction. This feature is particularly useful on multi-lane highways or on roads where you can drive at high speeds, as they prevent lane change collisions.

Driver Monitoring System 

This system aims to detect the driver's level of attention and alertness. According to experts, Driver Monitoring Systems will soon become a standard safety feature. The system will detect when a driver gets distracted thanks to a laser-equipped camera directed at the driver's face. By analyzing their eye movements, it will detect if the driver is blinking more than usual, is not looking at the road, is nodding off to sleep, or showing other indications of fatigue and distraction. When the system perceives any sign of exhaustion, it issues an audio alert. If there is a risk of collision or the driver is not responding to the alert, it may slow down the vehicle or even fully apply the brakes.

 

5 Safest Cars

Now that you know what the most important safety features are, both classic and modern, you can start looking for your next car. In addition to taking into account the features listed above, you can also rely on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) safety tests and ratings. They measure how well equipped a car is to protect its passengers in case of an accident and how effective its features are for avoiding crashes. While there are plenty of safe vehicles to choose from, here are 5 of the safest options on the market.

Toyota Camry

Toyota is one of the safest car brands; they started including modern safety features long before they were common or even mandatory. One of their most praised models is the Toyota Camry. It comes with 10 airbags, including dual front and dual rear side-mounted airbags and rear head airbags. It has Blind-Spot Monitor that issues an audio and visual alert when a vehicle approaches your blind spot. Additionally, it has Enhanced Vehicle Stability Control. NHTSA gave it an overall score of five stars, and IIHS included it in their Top Safety Pick+ 2021. 

Honda Civic

Honda Civic is placed at the top of most safety ratings for its design and features. Apart from the standard airbags, it has advanced front airbags (i-SRS), SmartVent® front side airbags, and side curtain airbags with rollover sensors. It comes with an anti-lock braking system, complemented by Electronic Brake Distribution and Brake Assist. It also has Electronic Stability Control; and while it does not have Blind-Spot Monitoring, it also has a multi-angle rearview camera that allows you to have a wider and clearer view of your surroundings. For its overall score, NHTSA gave it five stars, and IIHS highlighted its Front Crash Prevention, stating it has superior performance.

Ford Escape

One of the most classic car brands in America, it manufactures modern-looking vehicles with high-standard safety features. The Ford Escape has anti-lock brakes, stability control and front-impact airbags, side-impact airbags, overhead airbags, and knee airbags. It comes with a Blind-Sport Information System with cross-traffic alert; this system not only alerts you when a car is close to your blind-spot zone, but it also lets you see traffic behind you when you back out of your parking spot or driveway. NHTSA gave it an overall five-star score, and it was included in a list created in collaboration between Consumer Reports and the IIHS for its reliability and safety-critical features. 

Honda CR-V

Another outstanding model of Honda is the Honda CR-V. It comes with anti-lock brakes, stability control, and a multi-angle rearview camera. It includes Vehicle Stability Assist with traction control that reduces wheelspin, helping you in slippery road conditions. It has SmartVent® front side airbags, overhead airbags, and side curtain airbags with rollover sensors in addition to front-impact airbags and side-impact airbags. It was awarded the Top Safety Pick+ by the IIHS and it also has a five-star score for its overall performance from NHTSA. 

Hyundai Palisade

With advanced safety technologies, Hyundai Palisade is one of the top choices among many car buyers. It comes with a 7 airbag system, including all standard ones plus driver's knee airbags and rollover-resistant curtain airbags. It has anti-lock brakes and Electronic Stability Control. It also has Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Detection and Assistance that alerts you when a driver is approaching your blind-spot area and can apply the brakes when necessary. It received an overall score of five stars from NHTSA and was included in the 2020 Top Safety Pick list from IIHS.

If you’re thinking of buying a new car and want to make sure you get a vehicle with the best safety features and technology to protect you and your passengers, contact us for personalized guidance. At Lux Auto Centre, we have award-winning cars for their technology and safety features.