From the June 2016 issue
Car commercials may have convinced you that every vehicle on the road is a computerized guardian angel, and there?s no question that safety technology is advancing. Sensors, cameras, and the safety features they enable are now cheap enough to be made available on a Hyundai Elantra. But much of the safety tech exalted in ads remains rare, only available on uplevel trims or in packages and almost never as standard equipment. Hoping to gauge how widespread these features have become, we dug through the configuring tools and pricing guides for more than 350 vehicles on sale today to find out how many offer advanced safety technology as optional equipment, expressed below in percentages. While increasing numbers of mainstream models make this hardware available, we?re a long way from everyone benefiting from its universal adoption, so keep watching those mirrors. Rear Side Airbags

17%

Full-length curtain airbags are standard on every car save for the Jeep Wrangler and a few exotic coupes. But rear side thorax airbags are standard on only 46 models, and they?re standalone options on certain Audis and Mercedes. The E- and S-class coupes are the only two-doors on sale that offer this protection for rear passengers.
Blind-Spot Monitoring

59%

Blind-spot monitoring is increasingly paired with rear cross-traffic alert, which scans for vehicles moving perpendicular to the rear of a vehicle backing out of a parking space. Some vehicles, such as Jaguars and ...