NY Auto Show highlights importance of passive safety

Active safety is proliferating through an increasing number of vehicle segments, with advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) seeing strong appeal from many OEMs in the quest for semi-autonomous driving and five-star crash test ratings.

Active safety systems primarily aim to reduce the chances of a crash occurring in the first place, or to mitigate the effects of an unavoidable collision. Systems such as lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) contribute toward keeping the occupants out of a collision, but what happens if the collision cannot be avoided? This is where passive safety remains a key technology for OEMs, which are now looking past traditional applications within the car.