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Isn’t technology wonderful? In recent years, we’ve seen technology used to create driverless cars, illuminate highways, use our smartphones in ways never thought imaginable, and take the Nissan LEAF to astonishing green-thinking heights. Now, could we potentially use technology to prevent drunk driving? That’s what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is betting, with its new Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety program, or DADSS for short. It is still in the early stages of its design, but if all goes well, we could see it in cars within the next few years.

The DADSS program, as it stands today, will use two methods to curb drunk driving. The first will be a steering wheel-mounted breathalyzer that will measure the alcohol present in a driver’s normal exhalations, returning a reading in as little as one second. The other method will be an infrared light that is emitted from the push-button ignition activator, which will test the driver’s finger for a BAC reading. In either case, the car will be disabled if the reading is above the nationwide limit of .08 BAC. Put it all together, and it’s pretty apparent that this is some truly revolutionary technology.
According to the NHTSA, this technology is never expected to be mandatory for new vehicles, and will instead be offered as an option for vehicles. This is fantastic news, especially when you consider that roughly 31% of all traffic fatalities, over 10,000 per year, are alcohol related. In any case, this is an epidemic that can’t be ignored, and now the NHTSA is leading the charge.

To learn how the DADSS technology will work, we encourage you to visit the video shown below, and for all of your Phoenix-area automotive needs, visit Avondale Nissan today!