Automakers are continually finding new places to employ airbags.
I grew up and have spent most of my life in the Midwest. I love the changing seasons and the few first warm days of spring
after a long cold winter. As I get older however, I have really begun to hate winter but merely from a personal standpoint.
Professionally, there is nothing better for the collision industry than ice and snow on the roads. It has always been great
for business.
Note the damage around the seatbelt controls in this vehicle, which was severely damaged in a rear end impact.
Will it always be? For years, there have been projections and conjectures about cars of the future that would be so laden
with safety equipment, and crash avoidance technology, that crashes would be minimized or that vehicles equipped with this
technology wouldn't crash at all. A program started in Europe called PReVENT has a budget of $80 million (U.S.) and includes
more than 56 partners working together on a wide range of research. PReVENT is studying relatively inexpensive, even simple,
technologies – such as parking sensors and existing satellite navigation – that can, and have been in recent years retooled
to, enhance driver safety. It is also working on more experimental and medium to long-term systems, involving innovations
that could appear in a few short years.
Another view of the severely damaged vehicle. Seatbelts and other safety systems that protected the passengers must be repaired
and tested.
The uncrashable car, as unlikely as it sounds, could become more of a reality and less of a theory than anyone really expects.
Sophisticated electronics and emerging technologies will have a dramatic effect on the progress of this goal. One relatively
simple technology utilizes GPS location and communication technology to warn drivers of potentially dangerous situations ahead
of them, like obstructions in the road, dropoffs or intersections. The speed of your vehicle and the direction and speeds
of approaching vehicles can be tracked and transmitted to the driver in real time, helping keep all vehicles at safe driving
speeds and distances.
These future and current technologies may help reduce accidents, but as long as humans are at the controls, I don't ever see
them being eliminated. Let's look at some of the technologies in place today, so that you can begin to plan for your training
needs now and for tomorrow.
Safety by the numbers
Airbags save lives. They also drive up repair costs and contribute to the growing number of totals. New technology aimed at
this problem will deploy only those airbags needed to protect occupants who are present.
There are two basic types of safety equipment employed in today's vehicles: active and passive. Active features are initiated
through action or movement of some type and are geared toward preventing accidents. Most often, these are the safety features
that enhance the driver's ability to drive more safely, like smart cruise control. Passive features are always available,
hiding in plain sight and function passively, engaging during an accident. A good example is the airbag system.
Consider this partial list of the active and passive safety features on the 2009 Hyundai genesis:
electronic stability control;
traction control;
4-wheel ABS (4-sensor);
advanced dual front airbags;
BFD (Brake Force Distribution) and brake assist;
front and rear side-curtain and side-impact airbags;
Kevin M Mehok is the CEO of Crashcosts.com and a current board member for several other companies. In his nearly 30 years of experience in the collision industry, he was Operations Director for CARCARE Collision Centers, and Collision Centers of America. He also served as Regional VP for Collision Team of America, and has worked in similar roles with several other Chicago area consolidators, Gerber, (Boyd) and Cars. He can be reached through e mail at: k.mehok@comcast.net.
Articles by Kevin Mehok
