Advances in technology within the past decade have allowed motor manufacturers to provide active car safety features that meet the latest legislative rulings produced in the interests of road safety. Among these legislative rulings are included the necessity for vehicles travelling at specific speeds to be capable of coming to a complete halt within a prescribed distance. To achieve this required statutory stopping ability vehicles have been fitted with braking systems assisted by features that operate in harmony such as the automatic braking system (ABS Brakes). ABS brakes reduce the possibility of a vehicle entering into a skid under hard braking, no matter what the weather might be doing.

To insurance companies the inclusion of ABS brakes on a proposal is a bonus, because it means that technologically the vehicle has a superior braking ability compared to one without ABS brakes. Some insurance companies reward individuals who purchase a vehicle with ABS brakes by offering a slightly lower premium compared to the same model of vehicle without the ABS brakes feature. In many ways insurance companies are in a strong position to ensure that public awareness and usage of safety features such as ABS brakes and traction control is applied simply by offering reduced annual fees when such features are included.

Traction control is the more recent safety feature adopted by motor manufacturers and appears to be following the same course as ABS brakes did previously, notably by being initially offered as an optional extra. In time, no doubt, traction control will become a standard feature as ABS brakes now appear to be. Today traction control costs are a little difficult to understand, for example on two small cars the manufacturer either charges as little as an additional £50.00 - Skoda Fabia Hatchback or £300 for a Renault Clio 3 door.
In some instances manufacturers supply traction control as a standard fitting, examples of manufacturers that do include Audi, BMW and Hyundai. Not names you might ordinarily expect to share common features, but they should be commended for their intelligent approach to car safety, and hopefully other manufacturers will soon follow.

On the used car market it continues to be necessary to establish the safety features included in the model of vehicle that you have or may be about to purchase, especially if it was built pre-2000. However, you might even consider that an alternative to a pre 2000 car is a vehicle built after 2000 that does not attract high residuals. If badge engineering is not of paramount importance to you compared to the car safety features included with a more mundane name, then you might make a purchase that's not only newer than what you were considering, but safer too.