Most car buyers make a purchase decision based on design, price, brand image, and even the freebies given, but many of them will take a car’s safety features for granted!

While no car can guarantee absolute protection in a crash, some vehicles do offer better inherent protection than others. Here’s a rundown of safety features in vehicles.

Since the basic seatbelt was first created, improvements have been made to help it do its job better. Adjustable anchors for the shoulder belts allow the belt to be positioned properly across the chest for passengers of various heights.

Seatbelt pre-tensioners instantly retract the belt to take up slack during a frontal impact, to position passengers properly in front of a deploying airbag. Force limiters, a companion feature of pre-tensioners, loosen the belt a little after the initial tightening effect.

Head restraints are designed primarily to help reduce whiplash and other neck injuries, and not for passengers to rest their heads against. To be effective, the top of the head restraint should be between the top of your ears and the top of your head. The horizontal placement should be as close to your head as possible without pushing your head forward.

Front air bags are now fairly standard items. Some vehicles offer side airbags that provide protection in side crashes, and some models offer curtain or tubular airbags that pop out of the ceiling in side and/or rollover crashes.

ABS allows the driver to maintain steering control during emergency, hard braking. Using onboard computers linked to sensors in each wheel, anti-lock brakes keep wheels from locking up, and thus prevent skidding.

While ABS helps to maintain control while braking, traction control is applicable during acceleration. Traction control systems improve vehicle stability by stopping the spin of a wheel because of wet conditions, loose gravel or over-acceleration. This ensures maximum contact between the tyres and the road.

A brake assist system monitors the driver’s use of the brake pedal under normal conditions, and automatically senses an emergency braking situation when the brake pedal is depressed with greater force. In such cases, it generates very high braking power to reduce the braking distance. When used together with anti-lock systems, it results in faster and safer braking in an emergency.

Wheel sensors and computers constantly monitor the direction of the steering wheel and the car. When the system detects that the car is about to spin out of control, it can automatically brake selected wheels to keep the vehicle on its intended path during a turn, to avoid sliding or skidding.

LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. The LATCH system features built-in lower anchors and ready-to-use tether attachment points to install compatible child safety seats without using the vehicle’s seat belt system. The system reduces error and simplifies the installation procedure of a child seat.