Your Safety Prioritized: Chevrolet’s Top 10 Safety Tools

January 12th, 2024 by

One of many popular used vehicles for sale near me, a red 2022 Chevy Malibu, is shown parked near a brick building.

Searching online for “used vehicles for sale near me” can help you find a car or truck that offers many benefits, like saving thousands of dollars on your purchase without forcing you to settle for less. Automakers like Chevrolet are highly regarded for building long-lasting, reliable, and well-equipped vehicles that meet every need and exceed expectations. These qualities make shopping for a used Chevrolet, whether a truck like the Silverado, a best-selling SUV like the Tahoe, or a sedan like the Malibu, an exciting endeavor. But how else does Chevrolet make your investment worthwhile?

Chevrolet goes above and beyond to prioritize your safety, instilling confidence and peace of mind in its drivers. Beyond the high-strength builds of each model, the Chevrolet lineup features a long list of standard and available safety and driver-assist tools that heighten your situational awareness to facilitate safer driving habits and conditions. Many of these features are part of the Chevy Safety Assist suite, which debuted in 2020 and has since become standard across the Chevy lineup.

Shopping for a used Chevrolet—especially models built since 2020—lets you enjoy these features and many advanced options. But what features should you look for or add to your must-have list? Here are Chevrolet’s top 10 safety and driver-assist tools you won’t want to miss.

#1 Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Alert, and Front Pedestrian Braking

Automatic Emergency Braking is an essential component of the Chevy Safety Assist suite and works with other monitoring tools, like Forward Collision Alert and Front Pedestrian Braking. Chevrolet’s Forward Collision Alert monitors traffic ahead as you drive, as Front Pedestrian Braking looks for pedestrians. If either senses a potential hazard, the technology alerts you to take action and apply the brakes to avoid a collision. But what happens if you don’t respond or your braking isn’t enough?

Automatic Emergency Braking can intervene if you’re traveling between five and 50 MPH. The technology uses input from your Chevrolet’s cameras and sensors to apply the brakes or enhance your braking. This action is designed to help minimize the severity of a collision or, hopefully, avoid it altogether.

#2 Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning

Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning is another staple in the Chevy Safety Assist suite and is an essential tool when navigating busy roads. The technology monitors the vehicle’s position in the lane, recognizing when your Chevrolet strays beyond the lane markers. When this happens, and you aren’t using a turn signal or intentionally steering in that direction, the tool will alert you with a brief input in the steering wheel to keep your car, truck, or SUV in its lane. As a result, this intuitive technology actively prevents side-related collisions, like missing a vehicle next to you as you navigate a congested road or highway traffic. A side benefit is that over time, you will be prompted less and less often as you get better at staying in your lane.

#3 Following Distance Indicator

Do you get in a hurry and find yourself tailgating cars in front of you? It happens to everyone, which is why tools like Chevy’s Following Distance Indicator are helpful. The system helps you break the habit and avoid tailgate-related collisions by giving you more insight into the distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you. This information makes you more aware of how closely you’re following and actively prevents frontal-to-rear collisions often caused by not leaving enough time to stop.

A gray 2020 Chevy Tahoe is shown driving near a lake.

#4 Intellibeam Headlights

Depending on its year model, your used Chevrolet will likely feature Intellibeam automatic headlamps. Headlights are meant to enhance your visibility, but Chevrolet’s Intellibeam system offers more convenience and easier accessibility. Instead of constantly turning your high beams off as traffic approaches, the system automatically adjusts the lights when traveling at speeds over 25 MPH. This optimizes your visibility without blinding oncoming traffic, and you don’t have to do anything beyond keeping an eye on the road and your hands on the wheel.

#5 Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert

Every vehicle has blind spots, but monitoring those blind spots is easy with tools like Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert. As you maneuver through traffic in town or on the highway, your Chevrolet’s virtual spotter constantly monitors your surroundings. The virtual spotter relies on Lane Change Alert and Side Blind Zone Alert to make changing lanes easier, mitigating the potential for a collision by alerting you to approaching traffic.

#6 Rear Vision Camera and High-Definition Surround Vision

A clear view of your surroundings is another critical component to your safety in the driver’s seat. Chevrolet recognizes as much, equipping its models with a Rear Vision Camera or a High-Definition Surround Vision camera, a staple on top-tier trims. The standard rear vision camera provides a clear view behind your Chevrolet, while the High-Definition Surround Vision Camera extends that visibility around the car, truck, or SUV. Both cameras are outstanding tools, with the high-definition camera boasting more features, like guidelines that can help you navigate your used Chevrolet in reverse.

#7 Rear Park Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Alert

A rear vision camera is an exceptional tool, but depending on the model and trim of your used Chevrolet, it may not be the only rear-related feature. Chevrolet’s safety suite also includes advanced tools like Rear Park Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. Rear Park Assist makes navigating your Chevy truck, SUV, or car in reverse easier and less stressful by alerting you to potential hazards and obstacles when traveling at slow speeds. Likewise, Rear Cross Traffic Alert looks for traffic crossing behind your Chevrolet, mitigating the risk of pulling out in front of someone when you’re in reverse.

A blue 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 is shown driving on a highway.

#8 Adaptive Cruise Control

Easily one of the most sought-after features when shopping for a used Chevrolet, Adaptive Cruise Control is designed to improve your experience on the highway. Traditional cruise control is helpful but requires constant input, from reducing your traveling speed to using the brakes to deactivate the tool because traffic gets heavier or slows. Adaptive Cruise Control minimizes that input, actively monitoring your vehicle’s speed and the traffic ahead. This monitoring automatically tells the tool when to adjust your Chevrolet’s cruising speed without requiring you to hit the brakes or press a button. It does the work for you, heightening your focus on the road.

#9 Safety Alert Seat

Chevrolet’s Safety Alert Seat is one of its most innovative but often misunderstood features. Because of its name, it’s often associated with seatbelts and passenger-related notifications like a rear occupant alert. However, the technology has nothing to do with your passengers and everything to do with your experience behind the wheel. It’s designed to work with your Chevrolet’s extensive monitoring system and safety features to alert you to potential hazards by vibrating the driver’s seat. Depending on where the system detects a collision, it sends a vibrating pulse to the left, right, or both sides to provide a physical alert that tells you to take action.

#10 Teen Driver

Those with young drivers at home can benefit from Chevrolet’s Teen Driver technology. As a standard tool, Teen Driver gives you more confidence when your teen gets behind the wheel. The system is widely praised as a virtual driving coach, letting you set restrictions and automatically engage certain safety features when your teen uses their key fob. For example, your teen can’t shift the Chevrolet out of Park until their seatbelt is secure. Additionally, the technology provides an in-vehicle report card that creates coachable moments to improve your teen’s driving habits and heighten their safety behind the wheel.

Because Chevrolet is constantly innovating and adding new features to its vehicles, each year, used Chevys appear on the market with increasingly sophisticated safety systems. A pre-owned Chevy might be safer than what you are driving now.