Best Apps And Safety Devices Inside Your Car. One Of Them Could Save Your Life

Smartphones have changed the world -- some would say for the worse, but many others would say for the better.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Many of us buying new cars these days and are baffled by the new safety technology that comes with them.

Some features will automatically turn a car back into its lane if it begins to drift, or hit the brakes if sensors detect that it's about to rear-end someone else.

There are lane-change and blind-spot monitors, drowsiness alerts and cars that can park themselves.

Is it all too complicated? Learn how to easily operate all the bells and whistles in your brand new car HERE at MyCarDoesWhat.com!

Safety

When it comes to magazine covers and movies, sex sells, but when it comes to technology, safety still sells. A study from J.D. Power shows buyers are more interested in crash prevention technology, and are even willing to pay more to get it.

Among the most wanted technologies are blind spot detection, night vision and systems that automatically brake to prevent crashes.

If your car doesn't come with all those bells and whistles, there's an app for that. Per Edmunds.com, an app called Augmented Driving, which costs $2.99 in the Apple store uses a dash camera and visual data from the camera for alerts about impending collisions, lane departure warnings, blind spot warnings, and more.

"It's surprisingly accurate," Edmunds wrote.

Kristin Kolodge, executive director of driver interaction & HMI research at J.D. Power, said their latest study found that younger buyers are more willing to pay extra for the technology they want. But the interest in safety spanned generations, and vehicle preferences.

Here's a rundown of some of the best car apps out there, from Edmunds.com:

Car Minder Plus — $2.99 --  This app will remind you when it's time for scheduled maintenance as well as logging all of the service and repairs. Don't get caught with dirty oil again. Car Minder also tracks your fuel economy and can distill all of that data into an easy-to-read graph. On top of it all, you can manage multiple vehicles.

Honk — $0.99 -- Never again leave the grocery store wandering around and thinking "where the heck did I park?" With Honk, you can mark where you parked with a GPS pin, take a photo and make notes about where you left the car. The app can also track how much time you have left on a parking meter, alert you when time is almost up, locate the nearest coffee house, ATM or gas station. Don't leave home without it

Witness Driving — $0.99 -- Who's experienced the agony of walking out to the car only to find a scratch on the door, a smashed in bumper or missing door mirror? Convert your smartphone into a surveillance device for a measly $0.99. Witness Driving has a windshield mount camera and an accident detection feature that can send a notification e-mail if something untoward is happening to your ride.

Waze — Google paid a billion dollars for this app, but you can have it for free. Waze uses user data to pinpoint traffic jams, accidents and gas prices in real time. It's like having a big room full of friends all giving you good advice about your commute. "It even warns you if law enforcement is right around the corner," Edmunds.com says, but we should probably keep that feature under wraps.