Making Cars Safer

Safety is key on almost every new-car buyer's list today. Why has it been elevated? Simple. In 2004 there were 42,636 traffic fatalities in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That's more than twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden when the Knicks take center court.


Car buyers want to keep themselves and their families safe on the road, so they are demanding increased safety in their cars. Responding to this call, select automakers have committed vast resources to developing new technologies that will make new vehicles safer. Emerging as a leader in the safety realm of mainstream automobiles is the Chrysler Group, now offering for the average consumer nearly a dozen five-star crash rated vehicles like the Chrysler 300, Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee. This trendsetting trio of nameplates incorporates virtually all of today's leading safety technologies. Following the philosophy that first-rate safety equipment should not be reserved for more expensive luxury-class vehicles, the Chrysler Group has become a leader in offering cutting-edge safety technology at all price levels.

Active and Passive Safety
Decades ago, engineers relied solely on seatbelts to reduce injuries and death in motor-vehicle accidents. Seatbelts are still the single most effective safety technology in a vehicle. However, automakers are focusing now more than ever on active safety—technology designed to actually help avoid accidents or minimize the energy created from impact. Examples of active safety include a slew of acronyms like ABS, ESP and ERM.


On the other side is passive safety—technologies designed to minimize injuries if an accident cannot be avoided. These technologies include seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, bumpers, and the like. We'll talk more about these later.


While automakers like Chrysler incorporate a long list of safety technologies on every vehicle, here we'll talk about the highlights that truly set today's automobiles apart from the less-than-safe cruisers of old.