Auto safety is always a great topic to discuss and recently there has been much buzz about a fourteen-year-old Pennsylvania student who invented a new vehicle safety feature that earned her a $25,000 prize.
Over the decades, automobile design and engineering have made tremendous strides in terms of safety features, including strengthening of the vehicle frame to prevent vehicle collapse in the event of a rollover. Unfortunately, this strong A-frame design leads to serious visibility problems for drivers, as the A-frame pillars create “blind spots” in the driver’s viewable area. According to NHTSA data, nearly 840,000 accidents per year are related to blind spot issues.
Fourteen-year-old Alaina Gassler of West Grove, PA seems to have hit upon a viable solution to this issue with her blind spot reduction system, which makes the A-frame pillars in a vehicle effectively disappear! Alaina’s system employees the use of a webcam, a projector, a 3D printed adapter and retro-reflective fabric. It is demonstrated in the video below:
The invention, which she completed while in eighth grade, earned Alaina a grand prize of $25,000 from the Society for Science and the Public’s Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) science and engineering competition.
Congratulations to this incredible young woman on her achievement!
Drivers who grew up in the North or Midwest regions of the U.S. are likely to have heard of “snow tires” and are probably familiar with the concept of making the seasonal tire swap. Today, snow tires are increasingly being referred to as “winter tires”. While conceptually the same, the term “winter tires” has become more of a general description than “snow tires”. Winter tires are engineered for all kinds of cold weather conditions, not just snow, so the term “winter tire” more accurately represents the road-gripping capabilities of these tires.
Driving on tires that are in good condition is critical to your safety and that of your passengers. If that was not reason enough to take good care of your tires, consider how much you spent on them. Wouldn’t you like to have them last as long as possible?
Your car’s brake system is highly complex, involving multiple integrated components, all of which are prone to wear and eventual failure. Brake problems can have serious and deadly consequences, so drivers need to pay attention to any indications of brake trouble. People often ignore the signs, thinking they do not have the time or money to deal with it. But when you think of all that is at stake if your brakes fail, you cannot afford to ignore any warning signs.
When your service technician rotates the tires on your car, typically the front tires are exchanged with the rear tires. In most cases the driver side tires stay on the driver side and the passenger side tires stay on that side, however with certain types of vehicles or tires this approach may vary.
There are few experiences in life that are as awesome as kicking the tires on a new car. Once you slide into the driver’s seat, take in that divine new car aroma, and realize that baby is all yours, well, it gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.
Tires are perhaps the most important and most overlooked safety features of your car. In our last post, we looked at