7 Money-Saving Features Your Car Has That You Probably Don’t Know About
Written by
Sean Bryant
Edited by
Cynthia Measom
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Besides buying a house, your car will be one of your most expensive purchases. However, some features can help reduce the overall lifetime expense of owning a car.
Keep reading as we explore seven money-saving features your car might have that you probably didn’t know about.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Have you ever been driving down the highway with the cruise control set, and then suddenly, you started slowing down as you approached another car? That’s not a mistake. You probably have adaptive cruise control. With this functionality, your car will automatically slow down as you approach another vehicle. This allows you to maintain a safe following distance behind other cars.
The benefit of adaptive cruise control is that your fuel efficiency is likely much higher than if you were to control the speed yourself.
Start-Stop Technology
Cars equipped with start-stop technology will likely save a good amount of money on fuel costs. When a car with start-stop technology comes to a stop, at a stop light, for example, the engine will automatically shut off. The best part is that you won’t need to restart the car. Simply release the brake, and the engine will start back up again.
Smaller Engine
When you purchased your car, did you pay attention to the size of the engine? If not, you might be pleasantly surprised that yours is helping to save money. Cars with large engines, like a V8, or one with a turbocharger, will use more fuel than one with a V6 or four-cylinder.Â
Tire Pressure Monitoring
Most newer vehicles come equipped with automatic tire pressure monitoring. When the tire pressure gets below a certain level, a light will go off on the dashboard, alerting you. This allows you to avoid driving with underinflated tires.Â
Not only is driving with underinflated tires dangerous, but they can also cause you to burn more fuel than needed. Tires have what’s known as rolling resistance as they move down the road, which is what uses fuel. If your tires are underinflated, the rolling resistance will be greater, causing more fuel to be used.
Sensors
Many newer cars have sensors placed around the exterior. These have several benefits that can save you money by keeping you out of an accident. If you’re driving down the road and about to change lanes into another car, your car may start beeping to alert you that the lane change is unsafe. Or maybe you are backing out of a parking spot, and another car enters your blind spot. Your car would sense that car and automatically apply the brakes to avoid a collision. Â
Drowsiness Detector
If you’ve ever been driving late at night, you know how hard it can be to keep your eyes open. Unfortunately, it’s estimated that nearly 6,400 people die each year due to drowsy driving. Luckily, car manufacturers are attempting to reduce these deaths by developing drowsiness detectors. Typically, how these work is the car can understand your normal steering movements, and if the lane departure sensors are triggered more often than normal, warning signs will pop up on the dashboard, or an alert noise might go off inside the car. That’s your sign it’s time to pull over.
Adaptive Headlights
Driving toward dusk is one of the most difficult times of the day for drivers. The lighting can fluctuate in a split second To help make these situations easier, some car makers are using adaptive headlights, which will adjust based on the current road conditions. For example, if you come to a curve in the road, and the sun is blocked by an obstruction, the lighting can become poor quickly. Adaptive headlights are going to help avoid a potential accident, saving you money in the long run.
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