Active safety explained

You may have heard the term active safety. This term is also sometimes known as active safety systems or driver assistance systems. As you may have guessed we are talking about the opposite of passive safety. In reality, active safety technologies are becoming more and more omnipresent on modern vehicles.

In simple terms, active safety systems are capable of preventing an accident before it actually happens. Calling upon a combination of sensors, cameras and radars that closely watch what is happening on the road and the behavior of other vehicles. Active safety technologies can take control of the steering wheel or the brakes if the driver fails to do so.

Let’s take adaptive cruise control as an exemple. A radar monitors traffic on the highway when cruise control is activated. If the car in front slows down and you do not react, the car will be able to slow down for you, often to a complete stop. If the vehicle is accelerating, then your car will begin to accelerate again.

Automatic braking is another example. Let’s say you’re in town and the car in front suddenly brakes. If you do not respond, your vehicle will apply the brakes automatically. Some systems like those offered by Infiniti are also able to predict the behavior of the car in front of the vehicle directly in front of you and apply the brakes accordingly.

Other examples of active safety include Lane Keep Assist and Lane Departure Warning that controls the steering to keep you from crossing over into the other lane, Cross Traffic Alert that will warn you if a vehicle is approaching perpendicularly as you are backing up and even apply the brakes to avoid a collision, and more.

Thank you to Morrey Infiniti for their help with this article.