All Entries Tagged With: "safety systems"

Mandatory Backup Cameras by 2014?

According to NHTSA, 18,000 people are injured each year and 300 are killed because of “backovers” – situations where people back their vehicles into obstacles, cars, bicyclists, or pedestrians. This is a startling statistic to be sure – it’s hard to imagine how this can happen so often – but if you think about it the number (sadly) makes sense.

How many times in your life have you jumped out of the way of a vehicle in reverse while walking through the parking lot at your local mall? How many of us have backed into an unseen obstacle? How many friends or neighbors have had close calls with pets or children behind their vehicle? If you think about the number of people backing their vehicle up every day, it’s easy to see how the injuries could add up.

The question is, should automakers be required to include a backup camera on every new vehicle in order to try and prevent these accidents from happening?

Vehicle Stability Control – Pros and Cons

One of the most passionate debates in the world of automotive technology is the effect that electronic driving aids (such as stability control and traction control) have had on the average level of driving skill across the country over the past ten years. There are those who applaud the efforts of car companies to come up with systems that react to changing road conditions more quickly than a human ever could, thus preventing a potential accident. On the other side of the fence are people who lament the fact that many drivers have come to rely on these electronic nannies and have let their own abilities behind the wheel atrophy as a result – a state of affairs that could prove fatal should this technology ever fail when it is needed most.

Here’s some more info about one of these systems – VSC – and a break-down of each side of the argument: