The Safest Car Designs Ever Made

Driving a car is something that we all do on a daily basis, but we sometimes get sloppy. With the safest car designs, you could reduce the risk of bodily harm and death in a crash. There are some vehicle designs that are made better than others. Between the crash ratings put out by the Institute for Highway Safety and your own preference, finding a car that works for you shouldn’t be hard. Nowadays, it’s a lot harder to buy a car that is not safe. There are a lot of requirements that a passenger car has to hit for it to be available on the market. That being said, there are some features that make the safest car designs have the upper hand in case of a crash.

Front Crash Prevention

These safety features are relatively new, but having these in a car reduces the risk of getting into an accident. The systems in place would be forward collision warning and autobrake. The forward collision warning system alerts you when there is something in front of you that you may get too close to. This could be something like another car, a child, or even a tree. If you do not brake in time, your car will take over and use the autobrake. Since it’s relatively new, not all cars have this, and it’s usually an extra feature that you have to purchase.

Electronic Stability Control

This is required in all cars after 2012, so if you are buying a used car, you would have to check if it included electronic stability control. What this feature does is improve the traction of the car electronically. It helps to protect people by minimizing the chance of skidding. It was put as a requirement for vehicle safety because of how much it protects you.

Backup Camera

An easy feature that protects people are backup cameras. These are required in all cars after the year 2014. It can be hard to see behind you, especially if there is a small child running behind the car. Vehicle designs include this as a safety feature to protect other people.

Side Airbags

Perhaps the most important of the safety features for occupant protection is side airbags. Airbags cut down on the risk of death for those involved in a car accident. However, they used to only be installed in the dashboard. While this would protect the driver and front passenger, those in the back were left victim to injury.. Thankfully, side airbags were implemented and will often deploy if there has been a front side car crash. The Highway Traffic Safety Administration stands behind side airbags and seat belts as some of the most important safety features to have in your car.

Blind Spot Detection

How many times have you almost gotten into a car crash because there was something in your blind spot that you didn’t see? It happens all the time, which is why vehicle designs have come out with blind spot detection. What this does is alert you when there is something in your blind spot. It’s usually just a small light on your side mirrors that will light up and tell you that there is something there in your blind spot that you cannot see.

Curve-Adaptive Headlights

Drivers have an especially hard time seeing around curves, and the lights on your car don’t usually help much to light up the curve because they aim straight. Curve-adaptive headlights will actually turn with your car so that you can see what is coming around the bend. This can prevent a lot of crashes with animals. It can also help prevent a rear impact of another car because there could be traffic stopped ahead of the curve that you could not see.

While this is not a required safety feature, it is something that is nice to have and has been included on a lot of recent vehicle designs.

Lane Departure Warning

While we would hope that everyone is a safe driver, many of us are not. Since we drive every day, we suddenly think that we can do whatever we want while driving. Many of us text and drive, play with the radio while driving, or just get distracted while driving. We then end up departing out of our lane. So many vehicle crashes are caused by one car departing their lane and not being able to get out of the way of an oncoming car. The safest car designs have implemented lane departure warning. When it detects that the car is going to go outside the line, it warns you so that you can correct and get back into your own lane.

The Safest Car Models of 2018/2019 Cars

Every car has to meet the minimum safety requirements, so it is a lot easier to find safe vehicle designs these days. However, there are some cars that will go above and beyond the regular safety designs. Obviously, you have to weigh your options when determining which safety features to look for when buying your next car. If you need to put car seats in the car and worry about occupant protection, smaller and lightweight cars shouldn’t be a top priority. However, if you mostly drive alone and are fairly safe, getting a smaller car with added safety features could adequately protect you from danger.

Small Cars

In small cars, the Insurance Institute for Highways Safety recommends the 2019 Honda Insight, 2018 Hyundai Elantra, 2018 Subaru Crosstrek, and a few others. These ones are recommended specifically because they have the front crash prevention, which is the top safety feature right now.

Midsize Cars

Reliable midsize cars would include the 2018 Subaru Outback, 2018 Toyota Camry, and the 2018 Hyundai Sonata. The luxury midsize cars that come as a Top Safety Pick would be the 2018 Audi A3 or A4, the 2018 BMW 2 or 3 series, and the 2018 Lexus ES 350.

Large Size, Minivans, and SUVs

The IIHS recommends the 2018 BMW 5 Series, the 2018 Lexus RC, 2019 Toyota Avalon, and the 2018 Mercedes-Benz E-Class for larger cars. The 2018 Chrysler Pacifica, 2018 Honda Odyssey, and 2018 Kia Sedona are top picks, especially if you're looking for the best minivans for families, and the 2019 Acura RDX and 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLC are top picks for SUVs. These cars all come with the front crash prevention and curve-adapted headlights.

As the years pass, more safety requirements will be added to the vehicles on the market. Protecting yourself and your precious cargo is the most important thing on your list, so check out the safety features when you go car shopping next. The safest car designs could be the difference maker in a small crash versus a tragic situation.