Though safety is one of the chief concerns of car manufacturers today, this was not always the case. Rewind sixty years or so, and seatbelts were not even invented, let alone compulsory. Thankfully, the last few decades have seen huge safety improvements, both in driver awareness and vehicle engineering, keeping safety on the road firmly in the headlights. From car seats for children to electronic stability control, there are plenty of features you should be aware of when choosing a new vehicle.
Despite all the safety gadgets some cars now come with as standard, basic features like the seatbelt continue to save lives by the thousand, ensuring you don't collide with the dashboard, windows or any part of the car, in the event of a crash. It's been illegal to travel in the front of a car without a seatbelt since 1983, but legislation only extended this to the rear passengers in 1991. This was reinforced by ad campaigns in the 1990s, demonstrating the danger of unrestrained rear passengers to those in the front, as well as themselves, and most people now wouldn't consider travelling without one in any part of the vehicle.
Airbags have been another massive development on the car safety front in recent times. Providing a buffer between passengers and the vehicle's hardware, cars now come with everything from curtain airbags at the sides of the front seat, to more advanced protection from head injury such as foam interiors and head airbags designed for 'rollover' accidents. It's still crucial to make sure that your children are securely fastened into the back seat until they get older, however, as airbags can have an extremely damaging effect if inflated while young children are in the front seat.
Child safety features are naturally one of the biggest considerations for families on the road. Children can suffer serious injury from even minor bumps if left unrestrained, and it's for this reason that babies under 1 year old should always be protected by a rear-facing car seat, with larger, forward-facing options available for toddlers up to 4 years old.
It's vital to seek expert advice when fitting one, as an incorrect seat can be just as dangerous as no seat at all. Child car seats have become increasingly smarter since being made mandatory in the early 2000s, and with inventions such as the Isofix locking system, there's no excuse not to prioritise child restraints in the car.
Of course, improvements in car design itself have helped enormously with road safety in the last ten years, from all-wheel drive to the smart Antilock Brake System and electronic stability control, things like skidding and loss of steering are increasingly a thing of the past. With performance tests for the New Car Assessment Programme continuing to drive sales and in-built technology becoming more sophisticated every year, car buyers are able to keep safety at the forefront when choosing a new car.
