4 safety technologies you may want in your new car

When you’re looking at buying a new car (through a novated lease or an outright purchase), you’ll have a huge amount of choice in the competitive Australian automotive market. You may wish to list your priorities down, so you have a good reference when scouring this market for your next new vehicle.

So, what’s on it? According to AutoCenters Nissan, there are five recurring requests from car buyers:

1. Car features and functions (33 per cent prioritised this)
2. Purchase price (21 per cent)
3. Running costs (19 per cent)
4. Vehicle brand (14 per cent)
5. Environmental impact (12 per cent)

But what about safety? Sure, “car features” could fall under this category, but the researchers said it also accounted for less-important aesthetic inclusions like heated seats.

Perhaps it’s because Australia’s strict safety standards are showing consistent performance in the new cars hitting our shores. However, one of the reasons for such success is down to technology and innovation.

Car safety tech is becoming cheaper to develop, manufacture and include in many cars, and it really makes a difference. Yet not all cars are created equal in terms of the protection they offer should you get into an accident. It’s up to you to choose the best, safest option.

So, let’s talk about safety, and some of the technologies on offer to help you stay safer on the road. While you look for your next novated lease vehicle, ask yourself if you want any of these four features.

Don’t let hill starts put you off your stride.

1) Hill launch assist

To a manual car driver, and even automatic car owners on a steep hill, getting started can be a tense time. Finding the biting point with your clutch, accelerating smoothly and releasing the handbrake  all at the same time is a test of full-body coordination, and rolling back is a common concern.

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) says that human error plays a part of 90 per cent of all road crashes, including errors of judgement, lack of visibility and mistakes when controlling the vehicle.

To help with the last issue, hill launch assist is a rather common car feature today, due to its affordability for manufacturers. The technology automatically applies the brakes on a hill start to prevent rolling back, and releases them immediately when the car starts moving.

2) Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

In its latest round of crash testing, ANCAP picked the Mercedes-Benz GLC and the Jaguar XE out for praise in their use of AEB, awarding them the highest five-star safety accolade. The technology works by constantly reading the road ahead and reacting by automatically applying the brakes if the driver fails to do so in time.

“These vehicles further demonstrate we are entering a new era of vehicle safety where the standard inclusion of safety assist technologies such as autonomous emergency braking will help to eliminate or reduce the severity of a crash,” ANCAP CEO James Goodwin explained in January.

3) Side airbags

The past has not always been kind to airbags, and, to be fair, they were rather aggressive in their earlier stages of life, causing their own health risks. Today, the technology is not only adaptive but fully integrated into many cars.

If you want full protection from side impacts, for instance, look for side curtain airbags. New design rules recently passed in Australia for side impact protection will make all passenger cars safer to this type of collision by 2017, though the technology is already in many cars today.

4) Top tether anchorage

Will you use your novated lease vehicle as a family car with your young ones strapped into the back? You may want to look for top tether anchorages for child restraints.

“Top tether anchorages are upper anchorage points for second [and third] row seating positions that provide connection so that child restraints may be adequately secured to the vehicle.” ANCAP explains.

Have your eye on a certain car that meets all your safety criteria? Let Alliance Leasing know and we’ll show you how you can reduce the price tag and bundle ongoing road costs into easy-to-manage payments with a novated lease.

If you’re looking to acquire a family car through a novated lease, you may want to take safety closer to heart.