Active Safety Takes Occupant Protection to the Next Level
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010As experienced drivers and vehicle owners can readily attest, today’s vehicles are safer than ever before. Thanks to passive safety improvements like driver and passenger air bags, steel reinforced side beams, innovative seat restraints and frames that include engineered crumple zones, impressive reductions in vehicle accident fatalities have been witnessed.
According to statistics published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2005, there has been a dramatic decrease in accident-related deaths over the past 40 years. As the research shows, fatalities were reduced from 1965 through 2005, an era that coincides precisely with the development of most passive safety improvements. Also, injuries have seen a steady decline over the past 20 years.
It would be difficult to argue against the idea that passive safety measures have accomplished what they set out to do – save lives. Unfortunately, drivers still have accidents. In fact, NHTSA data shows that the actual number of vehicle accidents is virtually unchanged from 1988 to 2005. This is where researchers hope active safety technology will have its greatest impact.
