Improved safety features for better performance

Novan Iman Santosa and Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Advanced technology has allowed car manufacturers to produce vehicles that can reach their governed top speed, something that was unthinkable during the early days of automobiles.

Ford's Model-T, the first car to be mass produced, reached a top speed of 45 miles per hour (mph), or 72 kilometers per hour (kph). Current cars, even at the entry level, can easily reach 100 kph. As for sports cars, they can reach governed top speeds of 250 kph in a single breath.

On one hand, customers demand their vehicles to be faster and equipped with more power. But on the other hand, faster cars require better safety features, as PT BMW Indonesia director of corporate communications Helena Abidin said.

"Modern engines can deliver more power as well as speed, forcing carmakers to improve their safety features. BMW is no exception as we want to ensure the safety of our customers," she said.

Helena said that performance, comfort and safety were three elements that were combined in selling BMWs.

The spokeswoman for Audi distributor PT Garuda Mataram Motor, Wani Bhakti, said most premium car producers would certainly provide autos with safety features.

"There have been no request from our costumers asking for safety features because we have already provided them all.

"Safety is already a concept implemented in every Audi vehicle," she said.

There are two types of safety features: active safety and passive safety features, according to the president director of PT General Motors Indonesia, Harold Koh.

"Active safety includes factors that influence our handling of the vehicle such as the vision angle provided by the windshield angle of rearview mirrors.

"Proper vision is important to avoid accidents. That's active safety," he said.

But what if an accident happens anyway, asked Koh. That's when passive safety features work to minimize fatalities.

"Such passive safety features include collapsible telescopic steering wheel, side and front crash beams, air bags and most importantly the seat belts," said Koh.

"Drivers of cars equipped with airbags must always wear their seat belts all the time."

Koh applauded the May 5 deadline after which tickets will be issued to drivers and front seat passengers who fail to buckle up.

"It is a good effort. Once this regulation can be enforced, I suggest Indonesia also require rear passengers to wear their safety belts too," he said.

Yuniadi Hartono, PT DaimlerChrysler Indonesia deputy director for communications, conveyed the same message.

"Although the use of seat belts still need to be popularized here, we must admit that the number of motorists who buckle up is increasing day by day. It's good progress."

He pointed out that public awareness of road safety has been increasing.

"The trend is that most new cars are now equipped with airbags and Anti-Lock Brake Systems, even in entry level cars, showing that consumers demand safety," he said.

"I don't believe that carmakers would equip their cars with costly features if there was no demand from consumers."

According to Yuniadi, Mercedes-Benz customers had high expectations when it came to safety features.

"They have high expectations for a vehicle that cost them, let's say, Rp 700 million (US$81,395)."

The Mercedes-Benz S-class offers a new safety feature called the Pre-Safe, which is a new occupant protection system by foresight. The system can recognize the threat of an accident in advance and initiate preventive protection measures to deal with the situation at hand.

The measures include seat belts that can be tightened within a split second so as to ensure that the driver and the front seat passenger are in the best possible sitting position before a crash occurs, and a sunroof that automatically closes when the vehicle begins to skid.

"Therefore, you rarely hear of people suffering an injury when their Mercedes-Benz is an a traffic accident, as long as the passengers and driver put on their safety belts," Yuniadi said.

He guaranteed that all of the safety features in the car could really protect the users.

Koh said that while General Motors already had all of the safety technologies, Indonesia was special as it was a cost- conscious market.

"While we can provide airbags for our Optra sedans, such provision would be a burden for customers who want to buy an Aveo or Spark.

"But I can assure our customers that our vehicles, from the lowest price range to the top, have met our tough safety standards."

As Koh put it: "It is good to save lives."