One of the things that they teach in driving school is that whenever you get into the car, one of the first things you should do is wear your seat belt. However, all of us are probably guilty of not doing that at some point during our driving careers, but Chevrolet is hoping to crack down on such bad habits.
Dubbed the “Buckle to Drive” system, this is one of the new safety features that Chevrolet will be introducing to its cars as part of its Teen Driver mode. This means that the car will not let its driver shift the gear from Park to Drive until their seat belts have been worn. Given that this is part of the Teen Driver mode, this is mostly aimed at teens, although this doesn’t mean that adults should act recklessly either.
This feature is expected to be a standard feature that will be part of the company’s 2020 Chevrolet Traverse, Malibu and Colorado cars. According to Tricia Morrow, Chevrolet safety engineer, “Buckle to Drive is Chevrolet’s latest feature designed to encourage young drivers to develop safe driving habits right from the start. Buckle to Drive is embedded in Chevrolet’s Teen Driver system and is aimed at helping remind teens to buckle up every time they get behind the wheel.”
Chevrolet also shared some statistics to backup its new feature, such as how motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the US, and how in 2017 alone, 14,955 lives were estimated to have been saved thanks to the use of seat belts.