Iwona Konieczna What is passive safety technology and how to maintain it in good condition
Table of contents
What is passive safety technology?
Passive safety is a set of technologies and vehicle structures that are intended to reduce the consequences of collisions or road accidents. Their purpose is to protect occupants during and after a collision. Passive safety features are not active until an accident occurs because their purpose is to minimize the consequences of an accident. These are the main feature that make up passive safety technology in a vehicle:
1. Body structure
- Controlled crumple zone: specially designed car segments that absorb energy during a collision, reducing the force on the passenger compartment.
- Safety cage: reinforced compartment structure that protects passengers in the event of a collision or rollover.
2. Restraint systems
- Seat belts: Standard three-point belts that tighten in the event of an accident, restricting passenger movement.
- Airbags: frontal, side, curtain airbags, and increasingly knee airbags and footbags.
3. Protective technologies
- Child car seats: designed to protect the youngest passengers, taking into account their weight, height and position.
- Active head restraints: reduce the risk of neck and head injuries, especially in rear collisions.
4. Additional materials and structures
- Laminated glass: does not break into sharp pieces, but cracks while remaining on the foil.
- Energy-absorbing materials: used inside the compartment to protect passengers from hard interior elements.
Who checks the car’s passive safety systems?
The evaluation of passive safety systems in vehicles is mainly done by independent testing organizations that conduct a variety of crash tests to see how the car performs under various crash conditions. The most famous of these organizations are:
- Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme)
- NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in the USA
- IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) in the USA
These organizations carry out a wide range of crash tests, analyzing how the vehicle reacts to impacts from different sides and at different speeds. Similar organizations are located all over the world and have their own research methods, which they often share on their websites. Thanks to this, we can verify how our car handled a confrontation with a moose, or a rollover.
Nowadays, however, more and more attention is focused on active safety systems, which aim to prevent collisions and dangerous situations on the road.
Passive safety – tests to carry out
- Crash simulations: cars are intentionally crashed at different angles and at different speeds to simulate real accidents.
- Dummies: special human-like dummies are equipped with sensors that measure the forces acting on various parts of the body during accidents.
- Results analysis: sensor data is analysed to assess the risk of injury to different parts of the body.
- Structural assessment: checking how the vehicle structure contributes to the protection of the passenger compartment.
These tests are crucial not only for evaluating current car models, but also for the development of future safety technologies. Test results often lead to improvements in vehicle design, e.g. when designing the next generation of a given model.
Maintenance of passive safety features in your car
For passive safety systems to be effective, it is crucial to keep them in proper technical condition. Here are some tips to help you take care of passive safety features in your car:
- Regularly check the condition of the seat belts – annual vehicle inspections usually overlook the issue of passive safety systems, so you should check them yourself.
- Don’t ignore warning lights on your dashboard, especially those related to airbags.
- Keep safety mechanisms clean, so that nothing interferes with their operation.
- Do not ignore even small cracks in the windows – even a small spider’s web can significantly reduce the strength of the windows in the vehicle.
Taking care of these safety features and regularly servicing the vehicle increases the effectiveness of passive safety systems.
Summary: don’t be passive when it comes to passive safety measures
We encourage all drivers to regularly check the passive safety systems in their vehicles. Remember that keeping them in proper condition and being aware of how individual systems work can be crucial in the event of an emergency. Be responsible – take care of your safety and that of other road users.
