If you could require all passenger vehicles to have one manufacturer-installed survival feature, what would it be?

An automatic lockout to prevent the shallow end of the gene pool people from driving through water under bridges, in blizzards or across scorching deserts. Aside from that a ELT system like aircraft have. It would end being abused though. I know OnStar is out there so it is a start.

Standard Disclaimer

$.02

Good tires, appropriate for the climate and terrain.

Turn signals...oh, wait...nevermind.

Absolute security from unauthorized entry. Your BOG would be safe until you needed it and persons inside would have more options. Other preferences are already options or can be had from the open market.

Having witnessed many near-misses involving distracted drivers on cell phones, I want a mandatory system that detects an active cell phone call from within the vehicle and:

... immediately turns on 4-way hazard flashers

... activates voice prompt "Pull over! Pull over!" audible at both ends of conversation

... escalates audio prompt to the annoying "phone off hook" beeping after 15 seconds

... gives person at the wheel small zaps if vehicle is not in Park within 60 seconds (optional, but satisfying).

Cars should come equipped with the vehicular equivalent of a PLB. Something like OnStar, but not totally reliant on cellular service (It should be something that can take advantage of both cell lines and communication satellites).

That way, if something ever happens while you're in or near your vehicle, you can hopefully get help notified and aware of your location. That way, instead of having to survive for a few days, you might only have to make it for a few hours. I truly think it would end up saving a lot of lives.

I know many people venture outside their homes under the impression that help is just a cell phone call away. Fact is, cell service is often sketchy at best, especially once you get away from suburban areas. Unless you're prepared with some other form of communication it can be quite a while before help comes, if it ever does.

Unlimited year/milage bumper to bumper warranty, that way the vehicle will always be in good repair. Plus the owner can still afford to pay their bills.


In other words.....


Reliability

Warranty doesn't equal reliability. Once had a boss who bought a brand new Hyundai, every couple weeks we would start taking bets on which of us he was going to call for a ride to work from the dealer for his bi monthly warranty repair trip.

I expect to see "black box" data and GPS loggers with crash activated cell/EPIRB, and perhaps video, someday in the not too distant future, followed soon thereafter with a logged data reader in every patrol car. A mixed blessing, at best.

Cars already have data logging black boxes, and, in the case of OnStar, can already send out a help message in a crash and record in-car audio. Connecting that with the in car GPS is only a software program away.

Sounds like it's nearly already here.

This tears my heart out every time I hear of it, but something that prevents parents from leaving their babies/children in the 140 degree car while they are at work, at the mall, etc. It could detect any source and prevent the car from being locked until EVERYONE is out of the car and you have to put a personal code in to lock the doors.

I have to go with 4-wheel-drive also, but there are far too many people who own one and have no idea how to use it. A lever on the floor or button on the dash labeled "4WD" isn't magic. Heck, I've even talked to people who thought their 2WD SUV was 4WD, they had no clue.

Booster lugs far enough away from the battery that people quit blowing them up when trying to boost start their cars.

Something to force childern to be in a proper seat for their age. This has turn into a grip for me and something I never noticed before. Countless times I see people driving with their kids not buckled in or babies on their laps. If you use your own seatbelt, shouldn't you use one for the most important person(s) in your life?

Sorry for going off topic...

LifeHammer
Fire Extinguisher

Do you think they'll become a)required, and b) used for legal purposes, either post-collision or traffic law enforcement?

We half-jokingly say we need a law that allows ambulances to make traffic stops for this one purpose. It doesn't take too many dead babies before you develop some pretty strong feelings about it.

Don't some European countries require FEs already? (Germany?)

Oddly, I've seen plenty of car fires, but darn few as a result of a collision.

Not too odd- none of the car fires I've seen were from collisions either. And, yeah, I'd have loved to pull over some folks. Still want to.

Ditto the LifeHammer. Mine's tucked into one of those wraparound pads on the shoulder belt. Any impact that can tear that loose will probably not leave me in a condition to worry about it.

It's not something that can be implemented anytime soon, but I think AI is going to be the ultimate lifesaver on the highways. When cars drive themselves, you'll eliminate the majority of the collisions.

I remember a James Bond movie where Q had given Bond a car with an interesting theft protection device. When one of the bad guys broke the window of the car, the whole thing blew up (eliminating that bad guy from the gene pool at least)

Flamethrower?

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9812/11/flame.thrower.car/

or video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc

To the first question: Yes, they will eventually become required or at least standard equipment on nearly every vehicle (even though most vehicles already have them).

How will this happen you ask? Through the Insurance Institue for Highway Safety. The black box saves insurance companies money. Therefore, the IIHS will see it as a "safety item" and rate cars poorly that don't have it. Eventually the NHTSA (the goverment version of the IIHS) will follow like they always do and we'll see black boxes becoming mandatory or at least standard equipment. It's already happening. This is how Tire Pressure Monitering and Stability Control recently became required features.

To answer your second question:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1105364095740

I know Germany requires (at least in the late 80s, when I was stationed in Berlin) a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit. Our German-made Fords had recesses built in for mounting both of those. I'd love to see that as a standard feature, along with a Lifehammer mounted up front.

A jack that works, and maybe a lug wrench that will loosen/tighten lug nuts?

1. Receiver for laser engine shutdown system.
High speed chases scare me.

Cop has laser, points it at car, engine stops.

No more high speed chases, no waiting for the drunk to notice the flashing lights.

(With appropriate security against non-cop lasers of course.)

2. DL reader. Swipe card to start car. Revoked license won't work - delivers shock instead. I hear MANY MANY MANY habitual traffic offenders, suspended/revoked drivers etc get pulled over when I listen to my scanner. (I'd rather they were roadside executed but I think that's too much to ask for.)

3. Cellphone noise source which jams cellphone service when the car is moving faster than 25 mph. Bonus for jammer that can deliver EMP to a text transmitting device.

You can not regulate safe driving anymore than you can legislate effective parenting, but the most fool proof way to reduce traffic fatalities is to reduce the speed of collisions (both for single car accidents or multiple car accidents). A 55 mph regulator on cars would save the most lives. A crash at 55 mph on the free way would be far less catastrophic than a crash at 80 mph. And less likely, since it increases contollablility of the vehicle and gives people more time to respond.

Opinion coming up, I think people drive more dangerously the safer they feel their cars are. Seat belts, roll bars, air bags, side air bags, etc. make people act more dangerously. This means that safety improvements in cars have a minimal, null or perhaps even negative impact on injuries and fatalities. I have no evidence to back this opinion up what so ever.

So few people will change their own flats nowadays that the eu is considering removing the requirement to carry a spare.
Uniquely Spain requires you to have a hi-vis vest in the car in case you need to change a tire, this definitely makes sense and I'm betting most people here carry one.

Not sure about the extinguisher, given the rarity of accidental car fires and that most of them occur on freeways/major roads I think the risk of people being hurt trying to fight them (by the fire or traffic) probably outweighs the benefit.
Nevermind how you would enforce it when so many people refuse to even wear seatbelts.

Cleaning beer off my screen. I've thought the same thing...

I'd go for the fire extinguisher/reflective triangle/first aid kit.

The best damn tire money can buy instead of the el cheapo basic "all-season" rubber that comes on most vehicles.

How about tires that smoke and squeal to beat all hell as soon as they hit the wear bars.