Car Safety Features: How Do They Protect You?

Your Legal Friend
18 May 2018

The history of safety features in cars is a long and complex one, and that’s not what we’re looking to cover here; we want to take a look at how safety technology protects us and what its limits are. A modern car might have at least 20 high- and low-tech safety features, ranging from the good old seatbelt right through to sensors around the car the help with gauging distance and even keeping in your lane. But with various severities of collision, what comes into play to protect you from harm?

Minor collision

A minor collision would be an incident where the damage to your car is mostly aesthetic but it is still drivable. Passengers may feel sore in the days following but there is no lasting injury. The main features that would come into play here are –

Bumpers – designed to be easily replaced; bumpers are placed on the front and back of the car at a height where most minor collisions occur. They’re designed to absorb a lot of the hit and save the main body of the car, and its passengers, from any harm.

Crumple zones – are the failsafe after the bumper. This is where more serious aesthetic damage will occur but it should be fixable with replacement panels. Again, this is designed to take the power out of the impact saving occupants from harm apart from some slight whiplash movement.

Seatbelts – even for minor collisions, seatbelts are helpful; they prevent you from being thrown forward from your seat into the dashboard or passengers in the front of the car. A crash from a low speed of 20mph or less could do this if the stop is very sudden.

Damage should be covered by the insurance company but might be so minor you cover most of it with your excess.

Moderate collision

A moderate collision would see extensive aesthetic damage to the vehicle, very likely making it undrivable, but the main body is intact and passengers are generally unhurt. Your primary safety features would be the same as above but passengers would experience more whiplash or other injuries which may be persistent and require medical treatment. Additional features would be –

Seats – seat design plays a large part in supporting your body during an impact particularly the headrest which protects the neck and head from extreme movements. The seat also works in harmony with your seatbelt and can absorb some of the force from an impact. However, to ensure they do so, you need to make sure they are positioned correctly and offer your body support in the right places.

Airbags – airbags can cause some harm when deployed, such as abrasions, broken or dislocated fingers and even a broken nose. However, the force required to set off an airbag is enough that without it, you may have sustained a worse injury. An airbag is designed to take a huge amount of force away from any impact and to prevent you from moving further out of your seat. For a few seconds after deployment, airbags may prevent much movement from you, but then they deflate to allow you to move.

Safety glass – the windshield of a car will be laminated safety glass; this will allow it to break but not to shatter into the vehicle, remaining in one piece which can be pulled away with the right gear. Side windows are made from tempered glass which is very strong but if it does shatter, breaks into small pieces which means no large pieces for people to be cut with.

In this sort of accident, your car will probably be written off by your insurer as damage will be too expensive to warrant repair. Injuries might range from minor to moderate and the most common type of injury will be whiplash. If injuries last for several weeks and you or passengers are faced with the inability to work, you have the option of making a whiplash claim.

Major collision

A major collision would see extensive damage to the vehicle and, perhaps, even serious injury to the occupants. It is the type of accident that would probably occur at high speed and with another vehicle or immovable object such as a streetlight, tree or telegraph pole. Safety features engaged here include those mentioned previously as well as –

Internal padding – energy absorbing padding in the dashboard, doors, roof and around the supportive columns of the car help to reduce some impact. If fact, as you may have noticed, most elements of car safety focus on absorbing the force of a collision in order to protect car occupants. The amount of additional internal padding in a vehicle will always meet a certain level but more expensive cars might be better protected.

Collapsible steering column – the dashboard and steering wheel column, if the impact is big enough, may be forced inwards, which is why many cars not feature a collapsible column to protect the driver from harm. However, there are strict regulation on how far the dashboard and steering column can move; another advancement in the name of safety.

Reinforced passenger compartment – the area that seats passengers in a car is always a reinforced compartment that is, in some ways, the final line of defence. This rigid frame consists of upright side columns, cross door supports, and roof supports; it is essentially a built-in roll cage. In the worst collisions, this compartment along with all other of the other features mentioned work to save your life.

Injuries from a serious crash can vary from whiplash to serious injury or loss of life. The aim of all built-in safety features mentioned is to absorb incredible forces and protect car passengers. So the next time you step into your vehicle, think about the myriad of ways it’s designed to not only feel great to drive but to protect you from harm.