Be safe before you even get behind the wheel.

How safe is your car? For many of us, it’s a pressing question. We trust our cars with our families, our livelihood, and everything else, and carmakers are responding with “active” safety systems. Unlike safety features with which we’re familiar, like crumple zones and airbags, active safety systems are designed to stop a crash before it happens, or to give a driver warnings to prevent crashes. If you’re looking for a safer car, here are the features for which to watch.

Automatic Braking And Forward Collision Warning
Just starting to arrive on the wider market, automatic braking, sometimes called braking assist, keeps a constant eye on the situation in front of you. If the system detects a pedestrian or a cause for a sudden stop ahead, it will put the brakes on for you if you’re distracted or just don’t see the situation in time. That’s useful not just for safety, but for your insurance rates; you’ll likely be able to score a discount with the system, as rear-ending someone automatically makes you at fault in many accident situations.

If you’re leery of giving a robot even a little control of your car, however, opt for forward collision warning. It will alert you to the same situations so you can hit the brakes before you accidentally hit an obstacle in the road.

Blind Spot/Cross Traffic Alerts
Another useful warning is blind spot and cross-traffic alerts. Blind spot issues are particularly worrisome for many drivers, and the alerts will help you on the highway with merging, changing lanes, and generally driving more safely. Cross traffic alerts, on the other hand, are useful for backing out of parking spaces and otherwise dealing with ugly situations that can have drivers tearing their hair out. If blind spots and backing out make you anxious, these alerts will be well worth their price and will dial back your driving worries considerably.

Always be safe, no matter where you drive.

Lane Departure Warning/Lane Keep Assist
Another useful set of alerts allows you to, quite literally, stay in your lane. Lane departure warnings are self-explanatory. The car constantly scans the lines and alerts you if you’re drifting out of your lane. Lane keep assist is a little more involved. It allows the car to stay within its lane, and will perform slight steering corrections to help keep your car oriented correctly.

Back-Up Camera
Finally, there’s one of the most common, and certainly most popular, active safety systems, the back-up camera. Instead of having to keep one eye on three mirrors, the camera, which usually has a wide lens to offer you the broadest view of the road behind you, lets you back out more comfortably. And not only do you not crane your neck, the wider field of vision ensures that you’re more likely to see the biggest problems before they assert themselves. Especially in crowded areas or in busy parking lots, the backup camera is increasingly becoming indispensable.

There are many other safety features, of course. But these are the most popular, and likely the ones you’ll currently enjoy and use the most. So, when shopping for a new car, don’t hesitate to ask about active safety systems. If you’d like to get started finding a safer car, subscribe to get alerts on vehicles in your area.