Safety Package

A safety package is a set of functional features of a vehicle that are intended to reduce the likelihood of a crash or enhance survivability or injury reduction. Many items once included at extra cost are now standard items, being mandated by legislation or rule.

Some elements that may be included in a modern safety package:

• Acoustic back-up alarm
• Heads up instrumentation
• Heads up infra-red or low light video night vision augmentation
• Seat belt tensioners (pyrotechnic)
• Side curtain air bags
• Swiveling headlights that respond to the steering wheel input.
• Gas discharge projector headlamps
• Video imaging to the rear for assisting in vehicle back-up
• Active headrests, which electrically extend toward the person sitting in the seat when the vehicle deems this useful, therefore more effectively cushioning the head (during sharp braking maneouvers or during a crash, most likely in combination with airbag deployment.)

Safety components once considered enhancements that are now standard:

• Air bags
• Backup lights
• Brake lights
• Central stop light
• Padded dashboard (many of these were actually more dangerous due to soft padding masking hard corners)
• Padded sun visors
• Seat belts
• Turn signals
• Automatic warning of following vehicles when a car detects a danger situation (i.e. abrupt braking or a crash), either by rapid flashing of the braking lights or automatic activation of the emergency flasher.