Safety Features of a Car

1. Safety Features of a Car Lim Chia Wei 3S1(09) Lim Tenn Shaun 3S1 Teow Yong Zhen 3S1(21)

2. Introduction • Cars today are much safer to travel in than cars ten or twenty years ago. • As a result of crash tests, designs have changed and are still changing.

3. Crumple Zones • Crumple zones were first introduced in 1959. • Crumple Zones, indicated here in red, were designed to absorb the energy of a collision by bending and breaking in a predictable manner. In doing so, the force of the collision would be diverted away from the passenger's compartment, thereby keeping him or her from serious injury.

4. Seat belts • The seat belt was introduced by Nash Motors in 1949. • Seat belts work in the same principle as crumple zones. • They make the change in momentum take longer – so that the force is less.

5. Airbags • Airbags help cushion the impact, reducing your momentum more slowly so that the force is less. • Airbags are intended to be used as a supplementary device to the seatbelt.

6. Wind Shields • In the 1950s, cars came off the line with side and rear windows of tempered glass. • This treated glass can withstand forces of hundreds of pounds per square inch. • When broken, it breaks into smooth beads that do not cut the skin • Unlike safety glass, rescuers can cut into it to reach victims trapped in a car

7. Brakes • The first cars had brakes only on the back wheels, which led to much skidding and swerving. • Brakes on all four wheels did not appear in the United States until 1920, when they were introduced in high-priced cars. • It wasn't until the advent of the new Ford Model A in 1927 that four-wheel brakes became standard fare in most cars.

8. Brakes • To combat this, automakers devised anti-lock brakes. • Relying on a computer to monitor the speed of each wheel, the car can tell when a wheel is beginning to slide and can apply an automatic series of braking pulses, which are faster than those created by a human driver.