Car Safety

The all-new 2013 Cadillac XTS will begin production this spring and it will be the industry's first car to use what is called directional tactile sensation – a fancy way of saying vibrations of the driver's seat bottom will occur to warn of crash threats while driving and parking.

It works like this: the seat vibrates pulse patterns on either the right or left of the driver's seat bottom to alert the driver if they're drifting out of a lane or getting too close to an object while parking. In the event of a threat from the front or rear, the seat vibrates on both sides.

"It's akin to someone tapping on your shoulder in a crowd to get your attention," said, General Motors active safety technical fellow Raymond Kiefer. "Using the tactile sense to communicate crash threat direction provides an effective and intuitive way to cut through the clutter of visual and auditory sensory information that drivers routinely experience."

The Safety Alert Seat works with a variety of sensors and cameras installed in the car that help "intelligently" decide when to activate warnings. For example, if a turn signal is on, lane departure warnings are not presented. The seats also will be connected to the XTS Park Assist system and Rear Cross Traffic Alert system to help make parking in tight spaces easier.Read more

Car safety is one of the most important features in vehicles today. Scion has bragging rights with its 2011 tC sports coupe, receiving a top overall rating of five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Packed with safety features, the tC comes standard with a total of eight airbags including driver and front passenger airbags, seat-mounted side airbags, driver and front-passenger knee airbag, and side curtain airbags. You'll also find Anti-lock Brakes (ABS) and Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA), Traction Control (TRAC), Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Smart Stop Technology (SST) standard on all 2011 tCs. On top of all that, all models also have a tire pressure monitoring system and new active front headrests.Read more

Did you know that April is National Distracted Driving Awareness month? Iconosys certainly does. To help bring attention to this important month, the company just released DriveReply 2.1, an app that helps keep drivers safe. Developed for Android smartphones and tablets, the app received a major upgrade in its latest version.

Along with allowing the driver to avoid texting and/or talking on the phone while driving, DriveReply 2.1 now features Iconosys' "Accident Recording" and "Where Am I?" technologies, which comes in handy if you're in an accident or lost. Read more

We all know that texting while driving can be fatal, but despite all the warnings, traffic accidents caused by texting occur every day. Parents can now take control of their children's texting and driving with Drive Safe Software by PhoneGuard. The software completely disables texting, emailing and the keyboard function of a mobile phone in a vehicle moving faster than 10 mph.

Drive Safe Software uses GPS to track speed and coordinates and automatically turns off a mobile phone's texting capabilities when the phone is in a moving vehicle. Parents have the ability to change the settings with a password, if, for example, the child is a passenger in a moving vehicle, the child can press a specified button to request permission from the parent to use the text function. Permission can then be granted or denied from the parent's cell phone. A Phone TimeOut feature is also included, which allows parents to specify the time of day texting should be disabled, as well as SpeedAlert, which sends an email if the driver goes over a certain speed.

Drive Safe Software is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese for $29.99 for a single driver and $69.99 for a family three-pack. Get more information at www.PhoneGuard.com.

A crash-proof car? Do you think it's possible? Cadillac is getting closer than ever to creating just that with its active safety technologies. Developed by John Capp, director for Global Active Safety for Cadillac and his team of engineers, inventors and futurists, some of these safety technologies are available now in the 2010 Cadillac DTS Platinum. They include:

• Lane departure warning – a camera-based lane detection system that warns the driver when he or she leaves their lane without signaling. The camera, mounted near the inside rearview mirror, identifies traffic lane markings and provides audible alerts.
• Blind spot alert – twin radar beacons that detect an object in a vehicle's blind zone and provide a visual warning in the outside side mirror.
• Adaptive cruise control – sensors detect objects in a vehicle's path and slow the vehicle down to avoid a collision.

John Capp says future Cadillac technologies could include in-vehicle Doppler radar to spot obstructions or traffic jams ahead. Looking even further out, Capp sees autonomous vehicles that can communicate with each other, traffic signals and buildings, pointing to a world where cars may actually drive themselves.Read more

This posting isn't reviewing a product, but making you aware of one of the top killers of teenagers - motor vehicle crashes. Students from several Indianapolis High Schools know it, and because of this, just kicked off a new program called "Buckle Down" in an effort to help save lives. Led by the students, the program is used to promote safe driving among teens.

From the press release:

The "Buckle Down" program provides contracts for students to sign, where they agree they will focus on making good choices while behind the wheel of an automobile. Participating students can then earn points throughout the year which can be used to redeem prizes, with one grand prize being awarded to a student whose school met program criteria. That lucky student whose name is drawn will win a CAR, donated by Don Hinds Ford in Fishers. Read more