It’s remarkable how quickly in-car safety has improved in the last few years. With the increasing use of assistance systems, as well as the inclusion of more airbags and improved crash structures which can take the brunt of a collision, cars are safer than they’ve ever been.
You’ll find Eden’s range of cars equipped with some of the latest safety technology, too, so it’s well worth checking them out today if you’re looking for a secure new car. In this article, however, we’re going to go through some of the key innovations which have radically changed how safe our cars are.
Blind spot detection is a great advance in car safety technology that can help prevent accidents from occurring when vehicles enter into - you guessed it - your blind spot. It uses small cameras and sensors located around the vehicle to ‘spot’ when a car has moved into an area where the driver isn’t able to see, illuminating a light in the side mirrors to alert the person behind the wheel.
Some vehicles will also flash these mirror lights if the car detects that the driver is moving towards the blind-spot vehicle and some can even detect pedestrians or other road users that are nearing the car when you’re parked.
Autonomous emergency braking - or AEB - is one of the key pieces of safety technology relied upon by modern cars. Like other features here, it uses cameras and sensors that can detect an impact and can then help the car apply the brakes far more quickly than a human would be able to.
In fact, autonomous emergency braking has now become such a core part of a car’s safety technology that Euro NCAP won’t award a five-star score to any vehicle without it fitted.
Isofix isn’t a recent invention but it has positively changed how parents and carers are able to keep their children safe in the car. With Isofix, a child seat can be locked into place via mounting points in the rear seats, providing a secure connection to the vehicle in the process.
The Isofix system also makes attaching a child seat much easier than with other methods, such as pulling a car’s seatbelt through special loops of a car seat’s construction.
You may have seen quite a lot of chatter about speed limiters and speed limit detection of late. Now a mandated feature in the EU, speed limiters effectively ‘read’ a speed limit sign and will allow the car to adjust its speed automatically to meet it. However, it can be overridden - with the driver only needing to give a firm press of the throttle to bypass the limiter.
Speed limit detectors, in contrast, can simply read the road signs and relay that information to the driver - but leave the car’s speed unaffected.
You’ll find lane departure warning systems fitted to many of Eden’s current range of vehicles and it’s a feature which can really help when you’re doing longer motorway journeys. With it, the car can sense if it is drifting one way or the other and will automatically alert the driver to the issue.
Some systems will be able to apply a certain amount of steering to help correct this, too, keeping the car driving within the confines of a lane.
A car accident is never nice and one of the greatest issues with one is when to alert the emergency services. You’ll find many of the latest cars with an ‘emergency call’ feature, which can detect an incident when it has occurred and automatically call the emergency services to let them know that a crash has happened.
This is a particularly life-saving feature if the occupants aren’t able to access their phones or cannot speak due to injury.
Similar to autonomous emergency braking, rear-cross traffic alert is a feature that can help avoid incidents - particularly low-speed parking ones. Utilising onboard cameras, the system can ‘look out’ for other vehicles when you’re reversing and will alert the driver when a car is approaching.
The system can even apply the brakes if it senses that the driver isn’t slowing the car down effectively. If you’ve ever struggled to reverse out of a tight space into a busy road, you’ll find this feature particularly reassuring.
Nearly everyone who has spent a good period has encountered the feeling of fatigue. It can be extremely dangerous, reducing your ability to react to incidents on the road and leaving you more susceptible to injuries.
It’s why many modern cars come with a specific fatigue detection system. Using a camera facing the driver, this technology can look for signs of fatigue - such as closing eyes or even yawning - and will alert the driver to the issue, allowing them to stop in good time.
You’ll find many of these systems fitted to cars across Eden’s current range of available stock but if you’d like to find out more - or if you’ve got any questions about these safety-boosting systems - then head to our website today where you’ll be able to find out more or get in touch with one of the team.