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Seat Belts
A seat belt is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision.
Seat belts were invented by Cayley in the early 19th century, though Claghorn was recognised on February 10, 1885 for a safety belt. Since then, it is a requirement to have them in vehicles ever since.
It reduces injuries by stopping the passenger from hitting against the vehicle or others, by keeping them positioned and by preventing them from being ejected. -
Anti-Lock Braking System
An anti-lock braking system is a safety system that allows the wheels on a vehicle to continue interacting with the road surface while braking.
The ABS was first developed for aircraft use in 1929 by an automobile pioneer, Gabriel Voisin. It was adapted in 1958 for an experiment and it worked. Since then, ABS systems are required on all new passenger cars in the EU since 2007.
It helps in preventing injuries by stopping the wheels from locking up and therefore avoiding skidding and slipping off. -
Air-Bag Protection
An airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint system consisting of a flexible fabric envelope or cushion designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision.
The automotive airbag was invented by John Hetrick in 1952, while the first consumer model was done by General Motors in 1973.
It reduces injuries by cushioning the occupants during a crash and provides protection to their bodies when they strike interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window. -
Night Vision Assist
An automotive night vision system is a system to increase a vehicle driver's perception in darkness or poor weather beyond the reach of the vehicle's headlights. An image is created through a display, lighting the objects that are hard to see.
It was introduced in 2000 by Raytheon which worked by using infrared sensing cameras placed behind the vehicle's grille.
It helps in preventing injuries through prevention of unseen objects on the road at night as it gives the driver more time to react. -
Tire-Pressure Monitoring
The Tire-Pressure Monitoring System are linked sensors at the wheels which can alert you if the air pressure is too low by a sound warning or a light on the driver panel.
It was first adopted widely by the European market in the 1980s. Since then, it was required that all passenger vehicles are equipped with a tire-pressure monitoring system by 2008.
This plays a role in safety since it helps avoiding traffic accidents due to under-inflated tires by early recognition of the malfunction of tires.
