Parts of the car change shape to protect you in a collision.
A car that can anticipate a side-on impact and subtly alter its body shape to absorb the force of the crash is being developed by researchers in Germany.
The car will use hood-mounted cameras and radar to spot a vehicle on course for a side-on collision. Once it realises an impact is imminent it will activate a shape-shifting metal in the door. This reinforces the bond between door and frame, which is normally a weak spot, and distributes the force of the blow more safely.
Seems to me that it’d make more sense to have the car automatically do that when you started it up, that way you could get rid of the need for the radar units and cameras (thus saving weight).
Or, better yet, as part of locking the doors.