Buy A Safe Car

Salam all.


Pagi ini pagi yang cemas untuk kami empat beranak when our car skidded in the rain. Alhamdulillah syukur we’re safe walaupun I was a bit shaken as I rang Tuan Syed after that nerve-wracking incident. He was away in Johor. I was about to hit both left and right dividers. Luckily semasa kejadian there was one car at the front and satu mengekor jauh di belakang. I think the driver behind me had quickly slowed down his car to avoid any collision. Alhamdulillah. 
 

I thank to Allah for the brilliant people who had invented one of the vehicle active safety features called electronic stability control (ESC). ESC ni lain model lain namanya. Ikutlah car makers tu patent technology ni atas nama apa. Certain cars panggil ASC (Mitsubishi), VSA (Honda), ESP (Merce, Audi, Ford, Peug), DSC (BMW, Mazda), ESC (Kia), VDC (Nissan) and mine was named VSC-Vehicle Stability Control. Apa yang bagusnya VSC ni? 

Gambar ihsan

Kebanyakan kereta dilengkapi passive safety features (standard features), to minimise injuries sekiranya crash cannot be avoided. Airbags and  seatbelts adalah contoh passive safety features. Mana-mana kereta pun mesti ada. 

Tapi, tak semua kereta dipasang active safety features that can help drivers to avoid crash. Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), ESC, brake assist, Traction Control, adalah contoh-contoh active safety features dalam sesebuah kereta. Vehicle safety features dipasang bertujuan untuk enhance driving safety and performance. Of course la those systems ni supplementary sahaja and kita should not rely upon the system sepenuhnya.

Technology ni banyak membantu semasa hazard detection. Kalau tak sempat detect, ia juga boleh membantu drivers to avoid hazard. Kot tak sempat avoid, ia masih dapat berfungsi sebagai hazard mitigation to reduce or eliminate car accidents. 

Macam I tadi, the road surface was super slippery due to heavy rain and it happened at a sharp corner. Think my car was going to over-steer, I released the accelerator, and trying to control the steering wheel was just making it worse maybe due to abrupt steering wheel operation. I dah terfikir that my car was going to hit the dividers and even worse, going to spin a few times, sebelum dilanggar oleh another vehicle. 

Tapi saat itulah the VSC was activated. I heard the VSC alarm beeping intermittently, anti-slip indicator pun bernyala and the steering wheel was controlled by itself to keep the car on track. Yes, I was so nervous, rasa macam ada makhluk lain pulak yang suddenly control the steering wheel. It happened just for a few seconds before getting back to normal driving mode. Syukur Ya Allah, atas kecerdikan yang kau berikan kepada pencipta teknologi ini.

So, to akak-akak, kawan-kawan and adik-adik yang sedang shopping for a new car, it is highly recommended for you to buy a safe car. Memang orang perempuan selama ni tak tahu apa-apa pasal automobile ni. Kita tend to pilih kereta asal cantik warnanya, dashboard elegant banyak buttons ala kapal terbang, ada features canggih-canggih macam parking assist, reverse camera, banyak compartments, itu dah memadai pada kita. Sebab car buyers ni memang easily to fall back on visible features macam accessories, and then dramatic features macam berapa banyak bilangan airbags yang ada, airbags tu boleh keluar dari celah mana, sedangkan itu semua hanyalah passive features yang hanya dapat mengurangkan injuries dalam kemalangan. Itu sahaja tak cukup sebenarnya. 

Keselamatan dan nyawa bukan kompromi. Wanita sekarang rata-rata memandu seorang diri, dan ramai juga ditemani anak-anak kecil. Tak dinafikan wanita ni memang synonym dengan kepanikan berganda-ganda. So, bila ada hazard sikit, terus panic. Hujan baru setitik, wiper dah pasang yang paling laju. 

Jadi, pada yang sedang memujuk suami tu, pi bagitau depa that you consider safety features as the priority, yang ada combination active and passive safety features ni. Tak apa spend extra money on this. For me, there’s no point buying a car yang crashes better but cannot avoid a crash. 

Just my two cents.