Active safety

The term active safety (or primary safety) is used in two distinct ways.

The first, mainly in the United States, refers to safety systems that help avoid accidents, such as good steering and brakes. In this context, passive safety refers to features that help reduce the effects of an accident, such as seat belts, airbags and strong body structures. This use is essentially interchangeable with the terms primary and secondary safety that tend to be used in the UK.