General Motors said it will make rollover-enabled side curtain airbags standard on all cars and trucks by the 2012 model year. Rollover bags are currently available on 43 percent of GM light trucks, and all GM light trucks will have them standard by the 2009 model year.
The announcement came as part of General Motors’ opening […]

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has announced the 13 vehicles that earned its Top Safety Pick awards for 2007. The IIHS award recognizes vehicles doing the best job to protect passengers in front, side, and rear crashes. The IIHS made the criteria for 2007 tougher, including a new requirement that winners have to offer […]

Now that DaimlerChrysler has unveiled the all-new, second-generation smart fortwo, concerns about the safety of the diminutive city car are being raised again. Despite the car’s small size, the built-in tridion safety cell has performed surprising well in crash tests.
Check out this Fifth Gear video that includes official Mercedes videos with a smart colliding with […]

The National Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into reports of fires in some Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute SUVs, which are based on the same platform. The Mercury Mariner is also based on the platform but was not introduced until 2005 and is not named in the investigation.
Vehicles from the 2001 to […]

Side curtain airbags, which protect people’s heads, can reduce deaths in accidents by 52 percent in sport-utility vehicles, and by 37 percent in all vehicles, according to a new study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The IIHS report says that side curtain bags are more effective than airbags that protect only […]

Since speed bumps penalize non-speeders as much as speeders, inventor Gwyn Harvey came up with a radar-activated speed bump. Designed to only deploy to slow drivers that are driving over the posted speed limit. A radar records your speed, a sign warns you if you’re speeding, and if you do not slow down they rise […]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Thursday he will sign a measure that would require motorists to use hands-free cell phone devices while driving. California will become the fourth state to adopt such a law. Until the announcement, there was still some uncertainty whether Schwarzenegger would sign the measure, authored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. The […]

Ford has announced today it will offer all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks with standard electronic stability control (ESC) by the end of 2009, following reports that the NHTSA might require stability control on all vehicles. ESC is already standard on all Ford mid- and full-size SUVs, and the automaker is adding it […]

Government officials are expected to propose a requirement that automakers equip all vehicles with standard stability-control systems. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the systems could save in more than 10,000 lives from rollover crashes each year. Stability-control systems are offered on more than 50 percent of new vehicles, but it’s usually […]

Starting next year, most vehicles sold in the United States must display scores from federal front and side crash-test and rollover ratings on their window sticker, the NHTSA announced Thursday. The safety displays must be on all vehicles, except pickups, no later than September 1, 2007, which will cover the 2008 model year.
“By placing safety […]