California residents looking to purchase their next new vehicle should learn about the many features that have come to market in the past several years that focus on improved safety and accident prevention. Many of these features are standard in some vehicles but also available as options on others. Each has the ability to help avoid a collision but certainly is no replacement for responsible decisions and actions on the part of drivers.
According to State Farm Insurance, the presence of automatic braking and forward collision warning systems is linked to a reduction in accidents per data from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. The forward collision warning alerts drivers to a potential for a crash in front of them and then automatic braking system takes an active role in stopping forward motion to avert the wreck.
Headlights that are able to change the direction in which they shine based on the vehicle’s direction of travel, called adaptive headlights, have been linked to lower claim amounts for property damage in crashes.
Forbes explains that adaptive cruise control systems are able to slow a vehicle down based on the speed of the vehicle directly ahead of it when the cruise control system is engaged. Lane departure warnings are similar to forward collision warnings in that an alert lets a driver know of a potential hazard, in this case that hazard is leaving their lane of travel. The active counterpart to this system is lane keeping that moves a vehicle back into its intended lane if it begins to leave.
