That’s nice if it will actually let you keep going without stopping your momentum. But will the engine disabler let you drive away after the airbags deploy?
My pipe dream modern car would have a button that would temporarily disable all of those safety bells and whistles including the air bags in case you needed to do some escape and evasion maneuvers. Wonder if their are any engineers out their who could figure out how to add one?
My guess would be that even if a person could hack into the programming of a modern vehicle to make that happen, the liability aspect would prevent people capable of exploiting that from sharing it, especially disabling airbags.
Heck you could end up killing people because you were in an accident and your foot was on the gas while you were knocked out and you killed five children or something crazy but not that crazy.
After all, regular old car accidents happen way, way more often than safety features getting people trapped in a violent mob…and stopping your momentum/bringing the car to a rest after the impact is a major safety goal. Even a ways back in the day fuel pumps would have inertial things that would shut off with enough of an impact if I recall correctly, like I want to say they were even mechanical and not electronic, it’s been a thing for while
I’ll back RangeMatt up on this one. I am in the automotive/commercial vehicle repair business, and I have seen some of those wrecks come through. Some wrecks where the car is a pile of scrap metal and the family walks away and the cars where the air bag deploys from a 30 mph fender bender and snaps the driver’s neck. Doesn’t make any sense most times.
Most computerized vehicles do have that safety disconnect features built in so the driver can temporarily turn things off. It is like when you are playing a game on the Play Station and you input a certain sequence on your controller to unlock unlimited life. Most of those things will reset after the vehicle is shut off and the short-term memory resets.
The same can be done with a high-end scanner. You can go in and permanently turn things off or on according to your driving preference. You can change the performance parameters of your engine. You can turn off the ABS. You can turn off the air bags and collision avoidance. You can turn off your engine rev limiter and you max speed limiter. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO GET IN AN ACCIDENT WITH SOMETHING TURNED OFF!!! The prosecuting attorney will fry your a** in butter with onions and garlic, even if the accident is not your fault.
Also, if you do have things turned off and something goes wrong with the vehicle and you take it to your local wrench bender to repair, your bill just went up because the first thing he will need to do is reset your computer back to factory specs. Your repair bill will double.
My vehicle of choice is my old '77 F-150 Super Cab, long bed, The only real safety feature it has is the safety glass. No ABS. No computer. No air bags. Just 3 tons of American steel. I don’t drive it anymore because the frame is cracked. I have had it plated and it cracked again around the plate. It is a flaw this particular model had after a year or two. 46 in this case. She sits in a corner of our yard at our shop, waiting for a new frame. Been searching for a while to no avail, hence my need to drive the Expedition. Not a “bad” trade-off.
I’m not against the safety features except when their still developing programming makes really bad decisions. That is why I would want the switch to be temporary. Push the button and the features are disabled for a minute or 30 seconds or whatever and then automatically reengaged.
It is a rare occurrence but I have had a couple of occasions where needing to use my car as a battering ram was next on the list of option I was about to have to implement. I would hate for my vehicle to decide that I can’t defend myself when I need to.
Not all modern vehicles are created equal. There are significant differences in crash safety between them. Hence the comment about IIHS top safety pick. Generally, the fiat models tend to be the most ‘death trappy’ when you look into the ratings and the tests and the results, IME.
And, of course, nothing can save you from everything, hitting a big tree head on at 75 mph might be an example of that.
Me too, 2000 Wrangler
You can have all the sensors and whatever. I’ll take my manual trans , and power nothing.
My 2009 Wrangler has some of that crap but not an overwhelming amount. At 205,500 miles it’s still going strong, needs a steering dampener, that this Saturday mornings task.
No bullet holes?
Not yet, hope you didn’t jinx me. 
Something I’ve always heard about Jeeps, you better know how to work on one. I had one of the old Grand Wagoneer and I was always working on it or paying to have someone work on it.
The steering dampener is a pretty simple task 4-6 bolts a couple of “U” bolts and done. I really enjoy working on her but the older I get the more I’m attracted to the garage down the street, they do good work and don’t rape me at the cash register.
I named my old Wagoneer Gurdy May.
They’re not too hard to work on, I’ve done more work on my 2003 GMC Sierra,and had more work done to it.
Yea, I’m getting to old too. There’s a garage closer to town that I’ve been going to.
My Jeep was my midlife crisis when I was 49 yo.
I bought an 03 Silverado when I bought my current house, ‘15. New brakes, new tires, water pump and thermostat has been it so far. I don’t use it a lot but when I do I work it.
They all require payments, either you make a new payment or pay to fix older vehicles. Just depends on which end you prefer. Being a life long mechanic ill always choose the older cheaper easier to work on vehicles, as im not paying anyone to work on it, it just costs me parts and time 
@RangeMatt Nice to meet another Wrench Bender, Brother. and I agree with your statement.
My thought on the matter is this:
They all break down.
They are all expensive.
Some are easier to get parts for.
Like wise @BruceE , always good to meet another fellow mechanic. Quality knuckle busters are hard to come by these days. Im trying to make my exit before everything is electrified lol
