During my research I found an article dated February the 1st 2015 which talked about 2.1 million cars which have been recalled due to a sensor fault, not only was it a extremely dangerous fault but it also went undetected for over 10 years causing a number of collisions, This fault was all down to a small electrical sensor in the airbag which caused the airbag to deploy at random and so there have been numerous incidents where the airbag has deployed when driving down the road and has caused the driver to crash. Vehicles affected by this fault are from brands such as Dodge, Jeep, Toyota, Acura, Pontiac and Honda all produced between 2002- 2004 as these all shared a same or similar airbag unit and sensor. As a result Honda were issued with fines of over $70 million in compensation to those motorists affected by the fault.

So cases like this show how one small electrical fault due to a sensor can cause potentially fatal collisions, So should we really be prepared to put our lives in the hands of one of these sensors?. The truth is that over the years especially after cases such as this, companies now thoroughly test each and every component before they are put into production to ensure their product will not fail and affect the user\’s safety even under the harshest of conditions. And so now safety is number one priority when it comes to producing vehicles and so now vehicles are ensured to be as safe as ever. Not only are the existing components tested under extreme conditions companies have also added to safety features to ensure extra safety, For example in Tesla’s vehicles it uses one of the 8 sensors to constantly monitor your blind spots and if needs be the vehicle will take over and stop you from entering a dangerous situation.

Many of these sensors on autonomous vehicles allow the vehicle to use a lane assist feature meaning that if the driver starts to sway or move into the next lane the vehicle will automatically adjust keeping you in your lane and keeping you out of potential dangers, however this lane assist feature relies heavily on the markings on the road which over the years have become more and more worn after millions of cars drive over them every day, and so could this mean that we also need to redesign our roads to accept autonomous vehicles?. In Tesla’s vehicles not only does it incorporate 8 cameras but it also includes 12 ultrasonic sensors around the vehicle which allow the vehicle to make judgements of distance even in the worst of conditions including fog, rain, snow and even through another car. And so using these ultrasonic sensors it allows the car to see not only its close surroundings but also what is happening on the roads up ahead and around you, this allows the vehicle to determine possible hazards and react to those in order to keep th