Car Safety Features: What to Look For

Active safety: avoiding the crash

• Stability control (ESC)

  Essential
  Brakes individual wheels to stop a skid before it starts. Paired with anti-lock brakes and traction control; see ABS and stability systems.

• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

  Newer vehicles
  Watches the road ahead and brakes on its own if you don’t react in time. Many systems also detect pedestrians and cyclists.

• Lane keeping

  Lane departure warning alerts you if you drift out of your lane without indicating; lane keeping assist gently steers you back.

• Blind-spot monitoring

  A light in the mirror shows a vehicle in your blind spot, with a warning if you indicate towards it.

• Reversing camera and cross-traffic alert

  A camera and sensors for parking, and a warning of traffic crossing behind you as you back out of a space or driveway.

• Adaptive cruise control

  Keeps a set gap to the vehicle ahead, slowing and speeding up with the traffic, which takes some strain out of long drives.

• Driver attention alert

  Notices signs of tiredness or distraction, such as drifting or erratic steering, and suggests you take a break.

Passive safety: protecting you in a crash

• Airbags

  Count them
  Front airbags are standard. Side and curtain airbags protect your chest and head in a side impact, and some cars add knee airbags. More is better.

• Safety cell and crumple zones

  A strong cabin keeps its shape while the front and rear crumple in a controlled way, absorbing the force before it reaches you.

• Seat belt pretensioners

  Tighten the belt the instant a crash begins, and load limiters then ease it slightly so it doesn’t injure your chest.

• Head restraints

  Set at the right height, they reduce whiplash in a rear impact. Some are designed to move forward to meet your head.

• Child seat anchors

  ISOFIX points and top tethers make a child seat quicker to fit correctly. Check for them if you’ll carry children.

• After a crash

  Many cars cut the fuel or high-voltage supply, unlock the doors and switch on the hazard lights automatically.

Reading a safety rating

New vehicles are rated by ANCAP, out of five stars, from crash tests and checks of their safety technology. ANCAP ratings are date-stamped: a five-star result from years ago was earned against easier tests than today’s. Older vehicles have Used Car Safety Ratings, based on police-reported crashes in New Zealand and Australia, including how well the vehicle protected its driver.

You can look up both on Rightcar (rightcar.govt.nz), the government’s vehicle information site.

Checking safety on a used car

• Watch the dashboard at start-up. The airbag (SRS), ABS and stability lights should come on briefly and then go out. One that stays on, or never comes on, needs explaining.
• Check the recalls. Ask the seller, or the brand’s New Zealand distributor, whether every safety recall has been done, including any Takata airbag recall.
• Look for the airbag labels on the steering wheel, dashboard, seats and roof lining, and for any sign of tampering.
• Ask about the windscreen. If it has been replaced on a car with cameras behind it, ask for proof they were recalibrated.
• Check the tyres. New Zealand’s legal minimum tread depth is 1.5 mm in the main grooves, all the way round the tyre, and more is safer in the wet.
• Get the rest checked too. Our car buyer’s guide walks through the whole purchase.