Top 10 safety features in family cars

We know safety is the main priority for parents when it comes to choosing a new car for their family.

There is so much new safety technology in cars, many of which work automatically.

Often, we don’t even know they’re there until they step in to avoid or reduce the severity of an accident, while others features can seem oversensitive and nagging or distracting.

It can be overwhelming when you start looking at new cars and the list of safety features they come with, not helped by the fact that different manufacturers can call them slightly different things too.

That’s why we have put together this list of the safety features that are helpful for families and some of the cars that have them as standard.

As a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au, I have tested the best safety features for families in hundreds of cars over the past eight years with my family.

Here’s my pick of the best safety features in family cars and an example of the cars that have them…

Blind spot monitoring alerts you if you try to change lanes or turn when there is a vehicle beside you in your blind spot.

This feature is especially helpful for families when you have child seats in back of the car that can obscure your vision.

Among the many vehicles that have blind spot monitoring fitted standard is the BMW X1, which stands out as particularly effective.

The side mirrors have warning lights that illuminate when a vehicle is in your blind spot and an audible warning sounds if you try to change lanes when a vehicle is in your blind spot.

Safe exit assist is great for families when you are parked and the kids go to open a rear door while a vehicle is approaching from behind. Some systems can sense bicycles, too.

If it senses another road user approaching, the car automatically keeps the door locked and sounds an alarm or displays a warning message in the driver’s display screen.

One family car that does this well is the Hyundai Santa Fe. It is standard on these vehicles built after November 2020.

Child presence alert can be a saviour for the offspring of sleep-deprived, distracted parents.

This system gives you a gentle reminder on your driver’s display screen when you turn the engine off to check the rear seats and to not forget your children are there and leave them behind by accident.

Sadly, this happens a few times every year, resulting in infant death due to them overheating in the car. Some systems also beep as you walk away from the car if they detect a child or pet inside.

The new Nissan X-TRAIL has child presence alert as standard on all model variants.

Intelligent seat belt reminder gives audible and visual alerts to the driver when a passenger removes their seat belt while the car is turned on.

Some seven- and eight-seater vehicles do not have seat belt sensors for the third row, which is extremely disappointing as the rearmost seats are where it is hardest to tell if a child has undone their seat belt while you are driving.

The latest Nissan Pathfinder has intelligent seatbelt reminder for all seats in all three rows.

Rear cross traffic alert either sounds a warning or vibrates your seat or steering wheel and flashes in your rear camera when you are reversing and a vehicle (or in some cases bicycle or pedestrian) is coming from either direction behind you.

Families can especially benefit from this when reversing out of school or daycare car parking spaces, when it’s always busy and frenetic and it’s easy to miss something coming.

Also, with child seats in the back of the car, visibility is not always clear.

The rear-view camera on the Volvo C40 Recharge has a strange and slightly obstructed image so the RCTA is a great help. A warning sounds and a red visual lights up on the rear-view camera from the direction the obstacle is coming.

Adaptive cruise control is really helpful for families, especially in slow-moving stop-start traffic like school pick-up times, or when there are lots of distractions in the car and the kids are screaming.

Some vehicles including the Ford Everest also have speed sign recognition that is linked to the cruise control, enabling you to change the set speed to the current limit with just one press of a button.

Others such as the Kia Carnival also allow you to turn on school zone alerts, which lets you know on the driver’s display screen when there is a school zone ahead so you can alter your speed accordingly.

Digital rear-view mirrors are especially helpful for families as often rear visibility is affected with child seats in the back of the car in either the second or third row.

The Land Rover Defender has a digital rear-view mirror that you can leave on the whole time while driving and really aids visibility when you have a child seat in the central second-row seat as you cannot see past them using a regular mirror.

Indicator camera visuals come up in your driver’s display screen when you put the indicator on to turn or change lanes, giving you great visibility down that side of your vehicle.

This can be really helpful in family cars when you have child seats in the back to make sure you see any bicycles or cars in your blind spot.

The Hyundai Palisade large SUV has indicator cameras and I find them really helpful when changing lanes.

Honda vehicles used to have indicator cameras on the left-hand side but its latest models lack this feature, which is a shame.

Parents will find 360-degree cameras especially helpful as they are often manoeuvring quite large vehicles in places of high activity, often around unpredictable little people who are difficult to see in side mirrors or through normal reversing cameras.

Think school and playground car parks, where there are lots of children and dogs.

A 360-degree camera enables you to view from all directions to check your surroundings when manoeuvring or parking.

The GWM Haval Jolion has a fantastic 360-degree camera that provides an image quality you would expect to find in a much more expensive vehicle.

Being able to have the rear-view camera on while driving along is a great use of technology already fitted to most cars.

Similar to a digital rear-view mirror, it is especially helpful in large SUVs and family cars because child seats can really obstruct your visibility out of the rear window when using the rear-view mirror.

Also, I find the kids LOVE watching the camera on the media screen while you are driving!

The latest Ford Ranger and Everest are among the cars that allow you to display the reversing (and 360-degree) camera while driving forwards.

The Tesla Model S electric sedan that’s no longer available to buy new in Australia also provided a big, clear image that was great for kids’ viewing!