Improved safety features for better performance

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."