It may seem hard to imagine when airbags weren't an option on a vehicle. They weren't required until 1998. What if instead of simply protecting you from a crash, your car could help you avoid it?
Our cars may not be able to do everything that science fiction has promised, but with the technology like the city safe system on the 2009 Volvo XC60, it appears they are on their way.
"If you're going 20 m.p.h. between 10 to 20, the car will slow up and hopefully get your attention and put the brake on. If you're going 9 m.p.h. or less the car will come to a stop," said Lornie Haugen, Salesman of Dave Kasten Motors in Schofield.
That's right, this car puts on it's own brakes. The city safe system uses a radar unit mounted up by the rear view mirror to detect if the vehicle is getting too close to an object, while making no attempt of braking.
Haugen says that the city safe system is one of a kind, but for the sake of the public's safety, Volvo welcomes imitation.
"When Volvo comes out with a safety feature they don't patent it to keep it away from other manufactures they welcome other manufactures to incorporate there features into their cars," says Lornie Haugen.
If safety is a priority for you when shopping for a new vehicle, no matter your manufacture of choice many of these safety features are available such as a backup camera.
"When you put the vehicle in reverse it automatically triggers that backup camera to show you what is behind you so if there is a child's bike or heaven for bid a child behind you, you know what's back there and can stop," says Jim Mueller, Sales Manager of Fred Mueller Auto.
There's also another feature called blind spot monitoring. "It has sensors in the rear bumper, and each corner of the rear bumper that will alert you if you try to make a lane change and someone is there," says Jim Mueller.
Shoppers in the market for a new vehicle have plenty of new safety options. With more and more technology, our cars may be getting closer to science fiction sooner than we think.
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