safety features
1 Answer
This for a class or something? What year are you talking about? Am I the only one really confused by this question? Well if it's for a class... I'd say go with Anti-Lock Brakes. Works by reducing pressure to the calipers to ensure the brakes don't lock up, or slide. It does this by use of wheel speed sensors that measure the speed of rotation of the wheels. If it detects a sudden stop in the rotation of the wheels it will force the brakes to release till they begin to roll again. At which time it will allow the brake pressure to increase. In modern vehicles it will then limit the amount of braking force that can be applied thus keeping the tires from locking up again. Less advanced systems will continually lock-up for brief periods of time. Giving a feeling of vibration or jolting. The reason behind this system is that in most cases static friction values (that is the friction force between two objects that are not sliding against each other) are generally higher than the value of kinetic friction values(the frictional force of two objects sliding against each other). Simply put, your tires have more grip if they roll as compared to if they slide. Then of course there are air bags... sensors on the chassis and body of the car active the air bag system. (various ways of doing this from the use of accelerometers to fracture sensors) either way the end effect is the same. an air bag deploys to cushion an impacts for a driver. This is a basic play on newtons laws. Force= mass*acceleration. Basically the cushioning effect of the air bag does not change the final result. Drivers head going from 60-mph to 0-mph. Instead it changes the amount of time that this event takes place in. If your head hits a dash there is almost no time involved in the stop. (For arguments sake {ie this is not an exact number} we'll say it takes .05 seconds). while if an air bag deploys it will increase the time it takes for the head to stop lets say .15 seconds. Still incredibly fast but it reduces the deceleration (or negative acceleration). F=MA if the A decreases and your head still has the same mass, then force must decrease proportional to the decrease in acceleration. Hopefully resulting in a bruise instead of a broken skull. Then go with tire pressure monitoring systems, which I believe are mandatory on newer vehicles. These do just that they keep track of the tire pressure. If a tire has to high or low of pressure it will notify the driver. (light on the dash) This reduces the risk of tire failure due to improper inflation, which means you won't have as many SUVs flipping over and killing people due to tire malfunctions.