One of the basic priorities of a car owner is that his/her vehicle should provide optimum comfort and safety while driving on roads
Car safety has become an extremely important criterion for users while purchasing a car and they always look for cars that are embedded with advanced safety features. Safety belts, airbag modules, stability control, laminated windshields, anti-lock brakes, tire-pressure monitoring systems, automobile design and weight, are some of the features that fall under the car safety category. With both governments and consumers pressing home the need of car safety, manufacturers today are hard pressed to imbibe stringent safety norms in their vehicles.
Studies have shown that improvement in automobile design and inclusion of advanced features in cars has steadily helped in reducing the number of road accidents. Car manufacturers carry out constant research and testing activities with a view to improve the vehicle design so they can minimize the instances of injuries to users and damage to the vehicle.
A tool like BSC can go a long way in helping car manufacturers to attain higher safety standards. KPIs in this regard are basically categorized under four perspectives- Research and Compliance Perspective, Crash Avoidance Systems Perspective, Driver Assistance Systems Perspective and Crashworthiness Systems Perspective. Research and Compliance Perspective includes KPIs such as % share of revenues in research, automobile design rating, etc. Crash Avoidance Systems Perspective consists of KPIs like clarity level of headlamps and mirrors used, level of stability control, quality level of anti-lock brakes, etc. Driver Assistance Systems Perspective talks about accuracy level of tire pressure monitoring system, emergency brake assistance level, etc. Lastly, Crashworthiness Systems Perspective comprises of KPIs like stretch level of seatbelts, quality level of laminated windshields, test rating of airbags, etc.
Accidents may occur due to the negligence on the part of drivers or due to malfunctioning of any vehicle part like brakes, lights, etc. High-tech car safety features cannot completely avert the chances of accidents but can surely help in saving the users from fatal injuries. It is also seen that vehicle occupants who are fortunate enough to survive a crash are injured or killed due to post-crash effects such as fire; therefore it becomes important for car manufacturers to ensure that they meet technical standards set for fuel system integrity in cars. Quality level of equipment used in car manufacturing has a great impact on the level of car safety they provide to the vehicle occupants. Car manufacturers should make sure that the proper testing has been done of the safety equipment before they are actually placed in the vehicles. Number of quality checks during the production process lessens the chances of placing wrong or faulty equipment into the cars and thus enhances the safety level.
To conclude, car manufacturers today have the option of including advanced vehicle protection systems in cars to provide optimum safety level to the occupants. A lot of attention is given to vehicle-design and cars that are fitted with high quality safety mechanism are able to prevent or minimize the severity of injuries to a large extent when a crash becomes inevitable. KPIs strategically arranged in a balanced scorecard helps in making the task easier for the car manufacturers.