Safety is the most important factor you should take into consideration when deciding on your next vehicle. It is the safety features that will decide whether the car is really going to be the kind of car that you are looking for.
Safety is the most important factor you should take into consideration when deciding on your next vehicle. It is the safety features that will decide whether the car is really going to be the kind of car that you are looking for. When considering the safety features of the vehicle you should look into the different types of tires, brakes, and alarm systems available.
The type of tires used is a key factor in the safety of your vehicle. Traction between the tire and the road varies depending on weather conditions so it is important when considering a new car to look at what seasons and weather your car was designed to handle. Here in North Carolina we typically need all-season tires since we experience variant weather year-round. In comparison people in northern, snowier states require special tires designed for winter traction, whereas those in places like Florida where it rarely ever snows need a tire that is best suited to summer conditions. The all-season tires are built to compromise for both winter and summer conditions, and give adequate tire traction in all seasons. If you think you may be driving your vehicle in particularly muddy areas however, you may want to look into getting all-terrain tires which are specifically designed for going off-road.
When I bought my first car I had no idea that there were different kinds of brakes that could be used, or that the kind of brakes used even matters. There are actually two different types of brakes, though with new cars disc brakes are quickly becoming the norm. Both types of brakes use friction to slow the car, but the pressure is applied in different ways depending on whether you have disc or drum brakes. Disc brakes are superior in their ability to stop the vehicle, which is why they have become the standard brake. Also be sure to check out whether the vehicle has an anti-lock brake system. Anti-lock brakes slow the vehicle faster than the car would normally be able to, and are especially useful in rough terrain when the car has a tendency to skid.
Another important safety consideration is whether the vehicle has any sort of alarm system. OnStar is an excellent alarm system which can not only be helpful in the event of vehicle theft but the automatic crash response service will alert emergency services when you’ve been in an accident. OnStar’s emergency crash response will call police and ambulances for you if you’ve been in an accident where the airbags are deployed, or if you have the advanced crash response system OnStar can contact emergency services even if the airbags are not deployed. This service is advantageous when you have been in an accident where you have become incapable of calling emergency services yourself. OnStar also comes with two great theft services, in addition to being able to tell police where your vehicle is located after it has been stolen. OnStar’s two other major systems are Stolen Vehicle Slowdown and Remote Ignition Block. With Stolen Vehicle Slowdown OnStar can slow down your vehicle in order to prevent damage to the vehicle during a police chase as well as help the police catch up to the thief. With Remote Ignition Block, OnStar will remotely deactivate the ignition to your vehicle. After the criminal has stolen the vehicle and turned it off again, this service will make it so that the ignition cannot be started again until the vehicle has been recovered.
After taking important safety considerations into account, we can now look into all the fun extras that a vehicle may have to offer. These things may seem unimportant and you may feel that you don’t really need to think about them before you get to the dealership, but you should keep in mind that these days cars have so many different features to offer. You should be aware of what features are most important to you and which ones are not so important. This way you can make sure you are making an informed decision and getting the right car for you. You should be sure to check out all the features before you commit to buy a new car, so look at our next article, How to Get the Right Car For You: Fun Extras. And if you haven’t already, be sure to look at the first article in this series, How to Get the Right Car For You: Under the Hood.
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