Investigating car safety features
In this activity, students build model cars to investigate the function of safety features such as seatbelts and crumple zones.
Testing car safety features
In the activity Investigating car safety features, students build a car to better understand how seatbelts and crumple zones protect passengers and learn about the forces involved.
In addition to learning road safety fundamentals, students are introduced to Physical World concepts – Newton’s laws of motion, kinetic energy and the Nature of Science Investigating in Science strand’s use of simple models.
By the end of this activity, younger students should be able to:
demonstrate how seatbelts prevent the wearer from continuing to move forward during a car crash
explain why it’s important to wear a seatbelt when in a car
discuss the use of models in science – how their car represents aspects of reality.
In addition, older students should be able to:
explain that seatbelts exert a force, preventing the wearer from moving forward
demonstrate how crumple zones absorb energy
make simple connections between forces and Newton’s laws
make simple connections between car crashes and kinetic energy transformation
demonstrate how kinetic energy is reliant on the mass of an object and the velocity at which it moves.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
background information for teachers
equipment list
student instructions
extension ideas/prompting questions for teachers.
Related content
Build your confidence teaching about the Physical World with this recorded webinar Physics made simple – force and motion.
See our force and movement concept – it has a range of articles and activities focusing on the Physical World.
Physical World – forces provides a handy outline to our resources linked to topics such as flight and rockets.
If you want more inspiration for Primary science week see our recorded webinars:
Build stuff to learn about forces
There are lots of forces that affect flight – that’s why good design is so important. When making paper planes, wing shape and size, angle of attack and nose weight are important!
Rockets also need careful design and lots of thrust to get into space.
Use an effervescent canister to test these principles, and follow it up by making a balloon car.
Useful links
This activity was written to support NZAPSE Primary Science Week 2017.
Car physics and Newton's laws of motion has short, simple explanations of physics concepts and how they relate to vehicle safety.
See how far vehicle safety has come in this New Zealand Transport Agency video. It shows a head-on crash between a one-star and five-star car.
View the Rightcar website where vehicle safety ratings and safety features are explained, and you can check their safety rating.
In Australia and New Zealand, safety ratings are issued by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), a non-regulatory, not-for-profit organisation that tests new vehicles and publishes results. There will be significant changes from 2026.
Small, modern and safe?
Small, modern cars have many safety features. This car is a wreck on the outside, but the passenger compartment remains intact.
