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When choosing a new vehicle, vehicle safety features should be considered. With a little research, you can check out safety ratings and available options that add to the vehicle's safety performance to help you make a smart decision when purchasing a new or pre-owned vehicle.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts a yearly evaluation of vehicle safety features to help drivers make informed buying decisions. Each vehicle and seat is rated on a scale of: Good, Acceptable, Marginal or Poor. The good news is that, overall, vehicle safety is improving year by year.

New crash avoidance technology is also evaluated by the IIHS and includes:

• Forward collision warning with automatic brake that signals the vehicle to sound a warning, tighten up seat belts and possibly apply the brake.
• Emergency brake assistance, which senses "panic braking" by a driver.
• Adaptive headlights that pivot in the direction the vehicle is moving.
• Blind spot detectors that signal the driver with a light or an audible tone that a vehicle that the driver may not be able to see in the mirror is approaching.

If you are considering the purchase of a new or used vehicle, visit the IIHS Vehicle Ratings website and type in the make and model to look at vehicle safety ratings going back as far as 1994.