Safety Features

Manufacturers continue to build lighter vehicles with improved structural rigidity and ability to protect the driver and passengers during collisions.

Bumpers (rails or bars) are to protect the front and rear of the car’s body from damage in minor collisions. Over the years, bumpers became stylish and, in some cases, not strong enough to survive minor collisions without expensive repairs. Government regulations required bumpers designed to withstand low-speed collisions with less damage. Some bumpers can withstand 4-km/h (2.5-mph) collisions with no damage, while others can withstand 8-km/h (5-mph) collisions with no damage.

Modern vehicles feature crumple zones, portions of the automobile designed to absorb forces that otherwise would be transmitted to the passenger compartment. Passenger compartments on many vehicles also have reinforced roll bar structures in the roof, in case the vehicle overturns, and protective beams in the doors to help protect passengers from side impacts.

Seat belt and upper-body restraints permit comfort but tighten automatically during an impact and they are now more common. Some car models are equipped with shoulder-restraint belts that slide into position automatically when the car’s doors close.

An air bag is a high-speed inflation device hidden in the hub of the steering wheel or in the dash on the passenger’s side. Some automobiles have side-impact air bags, located in doors or seats. At impact, the bag inflates almost instantaneously. The inflated bag creates a cushion between the occupant and the vehicle’s interior. Air bags first appeared in the mid-1970s, available as an optional accessory. Today they are installed on all new passenger cars.

Air bags inflate with great force, which occasionally endangers a child or infant passenger. Some newer automobile models are equipped with switches to disable the passenger-side air bags when a child or infant is travelling in the passenger seat. Automakers continue to research ways to make air-bag systems less dangerous for frail and small passengers, yet effective in collisions. Because safety will continue to be a concern for automakers in the future. Air bags have saved numerous lives, but they have also been responsible for injuries and deaths of small children, due to the forceful action of the air bags when they inflate.

Another point of controversy concerns the recent popularity of large sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickup trucks. When an ordinary car collides with a truck or SUV, studies show that the ordinary car passengers are much more likely to suffer injury or death than are the occupants of the larger vehicles. SUVs and trucks are heavier and higher off the ground than ordinary cars and frequently run over the bumpers of ordinary cars during collisions. Industry representatives, government agencies, and insurance groups are currently working on these problems to create practical solutions and increase safety on the road.

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS: 1. What safety features do you know? 2. Which of them is the most reliable and useful (to your mind)? 3. Some air bags are dangerous, don’t they? Why? 4. Speak about the safety features that on your opinion should be in any car?

Exercise 1. Read the text once more and make the plan of it in order to retell it.

Exercise 2. Look through the topics and choose one to make a report.

1. Passive car safety.

2. Air bags without seat belts can not prevent the injures of the passengers.

3. Children and inattentive pedestrians are the main dangers of our road.