Best new car safety features 2023
As an area of significant investment for auto manufacturers the world over, vehicle safety has seen monumental innovation in recent decades. This focus on technological advancement sees new car safety features emerge at a rapid pace, with each starting as a premium add-on and trickling down to standard models over five or ten years. But while the bar for vehicle safety has been raised, some major manufacturers continue to reserve advanced smart safety features for premium models, bringing the trickle down to a stand-still.
Here are the best new car safety features for 2023 that we think could (and should) become mandatory for standard grade vehicle models soon.
Door exit warning
Handy for every driver in cities and built-up urban environments, this feature will ensure you and other road users don’t come into contact.
Using sensors located behind the corners of the rear bumper, this new car safety feature alerts the driver to any approaching cars or cyclists when they’re opening the door with beeps or flashing lights in the rearview mirrors. This prevents them from opening the door onto a cyclist or car and causing injury or accident.
Some new car safety technologies aren’t located on the car. The Hyundai Mobis M.Brain is an earpiece that helps to prevent driver distraction. Learn more: How Hyundai Mobis ‘brainwave technology’ can help tired drivers & make roads safer
Rear cross-traffic alert
Another new car safety feature which operates via sensors near the bumper, the rear cross-traffic alert feature detects cars, cyclists and pedestrians which are passing perpendicularly behind your vehicle and flash a warning if there’s a risk of collision.
Similar to blind spot warning, this feature gives you a second set of eyes where you need them the most. It’s ideal for reversing safely out of a driveway onto the street or out of a car park at the shops.
Blind spot warning
Via the same rear bumper sensors that door exit warning and rear cross-traffic alerts use, the blind spot warning feature detects adjacent traffic located in your blind spot before you change lanes. If you’re at risk of colliding with another car, motorbike or cyclist, it’ll flash a warning in your rear view mirrors.
Speed sign recognition
Whether you’re driving during the day or night, it can be hard to monitor your surroundings for speed signs when the main job is looking at the road! And that feeling of uncertainty when you aren’t quite sure you’re going the right speed? No thanks!
That’s where speed sign recognition comes in. Via small cameras in your windscreen, they continuously scan the road for speed signs and let you know if you’re about to go over. While there are some teething issues – such as occasionally picking up the 40km sign on buses – speed sign recognition is a simple and effective smart safety feature. Exactly the type that should be included in all standard-grade cars, not just premium ones!
While these new car safety features are only available on premium-grade models in 2023, we hope to see them included in all standard models in the coming years. Perhaps, as the parts shortages that have plagued manufacturers during the pandemic are resolved, they will!
