The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety isn’t content with merely picking the safest cars on the road, they also want consumers to know how to shop for safety features when they go to the car dealership. Rather than letting you be dazzled by deals on GPS systems and Bluetooth compatibility, they believe you should look at safety first.

When analyzing safety features, the IIHS says, there are two key categories you should pay attention to: crash avoidance, and crash worthiness. What’s the difference between them?

Crash Avoidance includes technology like rear cameras to help you safely back up, traction control, for better tire gripping on less-than-perfect road surfaces, and electronic stability control, which helps your vehicle handle curves and turns more smoothly.

Crash Worthiness on the other hand, is divided into three areas: size, structure, and safety restraints.

1. Size: When it comes to crashes, bigger is better. Larger vehicles tend to have crumple zones – space between the front bumper and the interior, that can wrinkle without causing serious injuries. Heavier vehicles are less likely to roll over, or sustain much damage.
2. Structure: Crash-worthy structures include roll bars, rubber bumpers, safety cages, and reinforced door posts – basically anything intrinsic to the design of a car that makes it more likely to withstand impact.
3. Safety Restraints: These include everything from basic seatbelts to airbags – and the safest cars have a full compliment of the latter, including side-curtain airbags – as well as the ability to disengage the front airbags if the driver or front-seat passenger is smaller than five feet tall.

When shopping for you next car, choose one that has an array of crash avoidance and crash worthiness features, for the safest ride, but remember that no technology can protect you from an accident caused by being distracted. Keep your eyes on the road, and not on the video monitor or cell phone screen.