Active versus passive safety systems

There are many different types of ways your vehicle can protect you in the event of an accident. But did you know that there are also ways your vehicle can prevent an accident from even occurring? The technologies that prevent accidents are called active safety systems. Those that protect you when there is an accident are called passive safety systems. In both cases, they have never been so evolved.

“Cars are stronger than ever before. They are built with more and more ultra-resistant materials and a host of engineering technologies that make sure that any impact is directed away from the driver and the occupants of the vehicle. But then you also have a wide range of advanced active safety technologies that take control to prevent any accident from happening” says a sales representative at King Mazda.

As mentioned above, passive safety systems relate to elements that protect you when a collision occurs. Features such as the airbags, the engineering that goes into making sure the engine does not intrude into the cockpit, the body structure is designed to push the impact away from the driver and a host of other structural elements comprise passive safety.

Then you have the active safety features which use a combination of cameras and radars to monitor other vehicles on the road. Active safety technologies include active cruise control which allows you to set a predetermined distance with the vehicle ahead of you when cruise control is activated with the system automatically applying the brakes to keep that set distance.

Forward collision alert will warn you if the vehicle ahead of you is suddenly slowing down while automatic braking can stop your vehicle if you do not react. Other features like blind spot alert will warn you if another vehicle is in your blind spot while rear cross traffic alert signals an oncoming vehicle as you are backing up.

With both advanced active and passive safety features, you have never been safer!