Crash Busters : Part II

This is last part of the article Crash Busters.

Crash-worthiness

1.  Safety Belt

This is a standard active safety devices for all cars and it presence is compulsory, safety belt is the first safety device to reduce the amount of G-force once a collision is happened.

2.  Airbags

Airbags act as cushions the impact of a vehicle occupant with various parts of the vehicle's interior. The categories of common airbags are Dual Stage Airbags which will deploy at two speeds depends on the level of collision and Side Airbags which prevent severe damage of the driver and passengers during side impact collision. This technology is usually combined with other technology to prevent injuries especially with infants due to the deployment of airbags itself.

3.  Laminated Windshield

This windshield is different from any other glass, it remain in one piece  when impacted, preventing penetration of unbelted occupants' heads and maintaining a minimal but adequate transparency for control of the car immediately following a collision. Tempered glass side and rear windows break into granules with minimally sharp edges, rather than splintering into jagged fragments as ordinary glass does.

4.  Pedestrian Protection System

This system involves redesigning the bumper, hood (bonnet), and the windshield and pillar to be energy absorbing (softer) thus reduce the amount of G-Force the pedestrian would get but without compromising the structural integrity of the car.

Post-Crash Survivability

Post-crash survivability devices and systems help minimize the chances that vehicle occupants who survive a crash will be injured or killed by secondary effects of the collision, such as fire. Examples include technical standards for vehicle fuel system integrity and fire resistance and retardant of vehicle interior materials. Advanced systems will alert authorities automatically after an accident has occurred for example the service offered by On-Star Automatic Crash Response.

Device Effectiveness

       I think these devices could improve the safety of vehicle for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. Especially the ones that is basic such as Airbags, Seatbelts, and the design of the car itself. The numbers of car accident have dropped significantly since the application of these safety devices, but we can’t deny that when one factor of accident is solved there is going to be another problem come out.

The driver assistance however, I think most of them do not have an urgent factor to be generalized to all cars, because human’s ability to drive a car still can manage it. The development of its technology can help those who can’t drive safely and properly, eventually in the future we have a big chance of riding a car without actually drives it.

Bibliography

Hybrid Cars. (2009). Toyota Prius Dashboard. Retrieved March 2010, from Hybrid Cars: http://www.hybridcars.com/files/2010-prius-dash-610.jpg

Road and Travel Magazine. (2009). In-Vehicle Safety Devices. Retrieved January 28, 2010, from Vehix: http://www.vehix.com/research/safety/InVehicleSafetyDevices.aspx

Road and Travel Magazine. (2009). Vehice Safety Technology. Retrieved February 2010, from Vehix: http://www.vehix.com/research/safety/VehicleSafetyTechnology.aspx

RTC-Rescue. (2009). Laminated Windshield. Retrieved March 2010, from RTC-Rescue Homepage: http://www.rtc-rescue.com/

Wikipedia Encyclopedia. (2010). Automobile Safety. Retrieved March 2010, from Wikipedia Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_safety