Improving automotive safety is not a new initiative for global automakers; it’s been a part of their business plan for years. One part of the equation that has evolved over time is the increased emphasis of the automotive designer’s role in overall vehicle safety. Safety is no longer the sole responsibility of a handful of interior, electrical and mechanical engineers; today’s designers are taking a much more proactive role in ensuring that safety is a priority in vehicle design. There have always been two paths to improving vehicle safety: prevention and protection. Naturally, prevention…the major goal of which is keeping people, objects and vehicles away from each other and out of harm’s way…is paramount. Accident prevention is influenced by many hundreds of factors and became a concern the moment multiple vehicles began to share the same road. Many of the advances in prevention were aimed at making us better drivers, such as legislation that addressed vehicle lighting, turn si…