Safety

In the course of duty, Police officers have to transport strangers in their vehicles. This can create all kinds of health risks, as you don’t know what sort of illnesses their passengers might be carrying. Cop cars often use plastic rear seats that can be hosed down and cleaned with disinfectants.

Since crash testing of vehicles first started, the practice has saved countless lives, influencing the design and engineering of just about every aspect of modern cars, trucks, and SUVs. But cars designed for racing must handle much more extreme forces in order to protect their occupants, with reinforced roll cages, protective head restraints, and form-fitting racing seats with five- or six-point harnesses among their standard equipment.

Ever since the first backup camera turned up on a production vehicle, the use of digital imaging to improve visibility and safety has increases, culminating with vehicles like the GMC Sierra HD, which can be equipped with up to 15 cameras.

You’d think that car companies had been crash testing vehicles since the dawn of cars. But the idea didn’t come along until the 1930s, when General Motors conducted the first known crash tests. Other automakers would gradually follow.

There are all sort of cool hypercars on the market today from Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche, and others. Perhaps the most high-end of them all is the Koenigsegg family of cars. Every automaker around the world who wants to sell cars in the US and abroad has to crash test rides.

One of the best cars that Porsche has ever made for the street and race track is the 911 GT2 RS. The car is an absolute beast. Now, Porsche is offering up man option for the car called the Clubsport Package that ups the safety factor for owners who plan on track days.

With Teslas, Bolts, I-PACEs, and E-TRONs, the era of pure electric cars is upon us, and their presence will only will expand over the coming years, as companies look to reduce greenhouse gasses and the use of traditional combustion engines.

The Chevy Bolt is the compact EV from Chevrolet that lots of buyers are looking forward to getting their hands on. The Bolt has a great long driving range, great interior space, and is well-priced. One of the items that prospective buyers might be wondering about is just how safe the small EV is.

Nissan is doing something that is very cool from a safety perspective. Starting in 2018, buyers of the majority of its cars in the U.S. will get a formerly costly add-on safety feature as standard. The company has announced that Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) will be standard on its Rogue, Rogue Sport, Altima, Murano, Leaf, Pathfinder, Maxima, and Sentra cars at no additional charge.

Cadillac has made a announcement that allows 2017 Cadillac CTS sedans to communicate with each other. Caddy calls the new feature “Cadillac V2V,” and says that it lays the groundwork for a safer future. With the tech installed, the CTS vehicles will be able to share information to alert drivers to potential hazards.

People who run from the cops are idiots. The only thing they accomplish in most chases I have seen is delaying the inevitable capture, risking their lives and those of others, and making for some interesting news reports.

Ford has announced some new technologies it’s working on that aim to keep drivers safer behind the wheel. The tech includes help for parking, collision avoidance, and help to prevent wrong way driving. Evasive steering assist can help drivers steer around stopped or slower vehicles to avoid collisions.

GMC has announced that it is putting new reminder system in the dash of its cars in the center of the speedometer that reminds you to check the backseat. The idea is to help people not forget their kids or pets are back there.

Google recently filed a patent application for a weird and wacky car safety device. The idea is that in the event of an accident, the hood would crack like an eggshell and release glue. In theory, if a car with this tech hit a pedestrian; the ped would stick to the hood of the car instead of flying any further.

Several important bits of news came out of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety this week. They’re the government-independent safety organization funded by the insurance companies to help improve vehicle safety and reduce insurance claims. One of the reports that came out was their testing of half-ton class pickup trucks, while the other was a report that talked about how deaths have increased along with speed limits.