Not many people know that Chevrolet or indeed General Motors was the first to introduce the air bag concept in a car way back in 1930. General Motors has infact been air bags as standard equipment in all their cars even in India and this lead us to write this article about one of the safest cars in the General Motors arsenal now. And no, General Motors hasn’t paid us to write this article.
The Chevrolet Cruze is one of the cars from General Motors’s global platform and has been first unveiled in India of all the places. This car immediately became the best seller in its segment for its killer looks, good engine and excellent ride and handling package. That is one of the safest cars in its class is often overlooked. It is an excellent demonstration of the many active and passive safety features that the car possess.
To start with, one would look at the stopping power of a car this powerful. The Chevrolet Cruze has powerful disc brakes on all the four wheels. These brakes are also assisted by anti-lock brakes or ABS. ABS ensures that the wheels of the car don’t lock up inspite of heavy braking and hence one can maintain control of the steering even in emergency or slippery surfaces. Complementing the ABS is Electronic Stability Program {ESP} and traction control. These are managed by General Motors’s GMLAN. This system communicates between the different systems in a car in an urgent manner, 500 times a second to be precise.
Even if you couldn’t avoid that inadvertent crash, the Chevrolet Cruze has a strong and rigid safety cage which has reinforced pillars with tubular bars. The front and rear ends feature crumple zones which absorb the energy from an impact and don’t transmit it to the passenger bay. In the event of a crash, there is a possibility that the electronic power windows or the doors may get locked up. The Chevrolet Cruze has an emergency exit system to counter this. This emergency exit is through the boot of the car, it opens through a lever which can be accessed by the rear seat passengers using the 60:40 split seat arrangement.
The Chevrolet Cruze also cares about one’s young ones and has provision for putting up a child seat on all the three rear seats. Child safety locks are also present in the cabin. To protect the front occupants, there are two supplementary restraint system {SRS} air bags which inflate in the even of a crash. 3 point Seat belts are given for all the 5 occupants in the Chevrolet Cruze and this have anti whiplash properties as well. It also features a collapsible steering wheel which prevents damage to the driver’s chest in the event of a crash.
Not only does the Chevrolet Cruze protect the occupants of the car, it also looks out for pedestrian safety as well. Its low set bumpers and body design cause minimum damage to pedestrians in case of an impact. The Chevrolet Cruze also keeps itself safe with the simple fact that it has an engine immobilizer as well as anti-theft mechanism. If some one tries to break into your Chevrolet Cruze, then the car wouldn’t start unless the correct key combination is entered. The car, if it detects an intrusion, starts all four blinkers as well as the horn is enabled to attract attention from the owner.
It can be safely said that the Chevrolet Cruze from General Motors is one of the safest vehicles in its class and off course this side of the might Mercedes or safety god for automobiles, Volvo Motors.
In a brief, the safety features in the Chevrolet Cruze are the safety cage, pedestrian protection, emergency exit system, front and rear crumple zones, all wheel disc brakes, child safety locks and provision for child seats, collapsible steering wheel, dual air bags, ABS, ESP and traction control.