At GM, making award-winning vehicles for families is personal
2026-03-17
For 2026, Parents.com honored the GM brand with Best Standard Assist and Safety Features as part of its Best Family Cars Awards. Parents.com also named a number of Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles the best in their class.
At GM, building vehicles for families is personal.
“I remember that first ride home with a new baby,” says Regina Carto, Vice President, Global Product Safety, Systems and Certification. “You drive slower, you stay away from bumps, you don’t want to upset that precious cargo in the backseat. That makes me think about how the work we do today is really meaningful.”
Building good cars for families is about creating peace of mind. “We are putting these safety systems out there to help support positive outcomes,” Carto says. “We take pride in contributing to meaningful protection in those moments when safety can matter most.”
When you think of vehicle safety, you probably picture crash testing, dummies and all. That’s a huge component of automotive safety, but the field encompasses so much more than that.
GM is proud to include an advanced suite of active safety and driver assistance features1 available across its lineup, with affordable models starting at or under $30,0002 like the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Envista. These vehicles are equipped with Automatic Emergency Braking, Front Pedestrian Braking, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Alert1, IntelliBeam automatic headlights and Following Distance Indicator standard.
“With all technology, the cost reduces with time,” explains Chris Kinser, GM Executive Director, Automated Driving Production Technology. “At General Motors, we have two advantages: not only do we get to push technology to its limits by taking advantage of changes in the marketplace, we also get to drive scale.”
It’s a virtuous cycle. By deploying this safety and driver assistance tech in a huge number of vehicles, the cost of the required hardware is reduced. Kinser says over time, his team has also figured out how to use available computing power more efficiently, further driving costs down and enabling even more advanced technology.
Then there’s available OnStar3, which not only enables advanced driver-assist functionalities like available Super Cruise4, but is also there in case of an emergency.
Caption: From L to R: Regina Carto and Suzanne Johansson.
Of course, a huge part of making great vehicles for families is child seat safety, and that’s the domain of Suzanne Johansson, GM’s lead engineer for child safety and a mother of two. It’s her job to help support GM vehicle compatibility with the many, many car seats available on the market, liaising with both fellow engineers at the company, car-seat manufacturers, and other child-safety experts.
GM’s aim is to consider how it can go above and beyond minimum regulatory requirements by striving to design every vehicle General Motors sells to meet the high priority it places on passenger safety, including child passengers.
“I want families to know that GM has a vehicle for you,” Johansson explains. “Whether it's a Buick, Chevy, GMC or Cadillac, whether you have one child or four children, there are ways that we can accommodate.”
Seat recommendations evolve as children grow, which means parents will end up going through a lot of car seats. That, plus the prevalence of online shopping in place of going to traditional retail stores to buy child seats means that Johansson and team are constantly working to support vehicle compatibility with all sorts of different seats. “There are many ways that we think about how families are growing,” she explains.
As Johansson puts it, there’s a lot of “sophisticated engineering” behind all this. It’s her job to see this engineering through so that parents have confidence in GM vehicles.
For GM, safety is a paramount consideration.
“Safety is embedded into the fabric of who we are and how we do our work,” Carto says. “We take that mindset and put it into the products we create.”
Winning awards like these from Parents.com are proof of the company’s commitment to safety and families.
“As a parent, I’ve had a lot of moments in the automobile that I bring with me to work every day,” Carto says. “It’s reflective of our purpose at General Motors. We pioneer the innovations that move and connect people to what matters. For many of us, family is what matters.”
1 Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver’s responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. The driver should remain attentive to traffic, surroundings, and road conditions at all times. Visibility, weather, and road conditions may affect feature performance. Read the vehicle’s owner’s manual for more important feature limitations and information.
2 MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment extra. Dealer sets final price.
3 Visit onstar.com for details and limitations. Services vary by model. Service plan required.
4 Always pay attention while driving and when using Super Cruise. Always use Super Cruise in accordance with local laws. Do not use a hand-held device. Requires active Super Cruise plan or trial. Terms apply.
For 2026, Parents.com honored the GM brand with Best Standard Assist and Safety Features as part of its Best Family Cars Awards. Parents.com also named a number of Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles the best in their class.
At GM, building vehicles for families is personal.
“I remember that first ride home with a new baby,” says Regina Carto, Vice President, Global Product Safety, Systems and Certification. “You drive slower, you stay away from bumps, you don’t want to upset that precious cargo in the backseat. That makes me think about how the work we do today is really meaningful.”
Building good cars for families is about creating peace of mind. “We are putting these safety systems out there to help support positive outcomes,” Carto says. “We take pride in contributing to meaningful protection in those moments when safety can matter most.”
When you think of vehicle safety, you probably picture crash testing, dummies and all. That’s a huge component of automotive safety, but the field encompasses so much more than that.
GM is proud to include an advanced suite of active safety and driver assistance features1 available across its lineup, with affordable models starting at or under $30,0002 like the Chevrolet Trax and Buick Envista. These vehicles are equipped with Automatic Emergency Braking, Front Pedestrian Braking, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Alert1, IntelliBeam automatic headlights and Following Distance Indicator standard.
“With all technology, the cost reduces with time,” explains Chris Kinser, GM Executive Director, Automated Driving Production Technology. “At General Motors, we have two advantages: not only do we get to push technology to its limits by taking advantage of changes in the marketplace, we also get to drive scale.”
It’s a virtuous cycle. By deploying this safety and driver assistance tech in a huge number of vehicles, the cost of the required hardware is reduced. Kinser says over time, his team has also figured out how to use available computing power more efficiently, further driving costs down and enabling even more advanced technology.
Then there’s available OnStar3, which not only enables advanced driver-assist functionalities like available Super Cruise4, but is also there in case of an emergency.
From L to R: Regina Carto and Suzanne Johansson.
Of course, a huge part of making great vehicles for families is child seat safety, and that’s the domain of Suzanne Johansson, GM’s lead engineer for child safety and a mother of two. It’s her job to help support GM vehicle compatibility with the many, many car seats available on the market, liaising with both fellow engineers at the company, car-seat manufacturers, and other child-safety experts.
GM’s aim is to consider how it can go above and beyond minimum regulatory requirements by striving to design every vehicle General Motors sells to meet the high priority it places on passenger safety, including child passengers.
“I want families to know that GM has a vehicle for you,” Johansson explains. “Whether it's a Buick, Chevy, GMC or Cadillac, whether you have one child or four children, there are ways that we can accommodate.”
Seat recommendations evolve as children grow, which means parents will end up going through a lot of car seats. That, plus the prevalence of online shopping in place of going to traditional retail stores to buy child seats means that Johansson and team are constantly working to support vehicle compatibility with all sorts of different seats. “There are many ways that we think about how families are growing,” she explains.
As Johansson puts it, there’s a lot of “sophisticated engineering” behind all this. It’s her job to see this engineering through so that parents have confidence in GM vehicles.
For GM, safety is a paramount consideration.
“Safety is embedded into the fabric of who we are and how we do our work,” Carto says. “We take that mindset and put it into the products we create.”
Winning awards like these from Parents.com are proof of the company’s commitment to safety and families.
“As a parent, I’ve had a lot of moments in the automobile that I bring with me to work every day,” Carto says. “It’s reflective of our purpose at General Motors. We pioneer the innovations that move and connect people to what matters. For many of us, family is what matters.”
1Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver’s responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. The driver should remain attentive to traffic, surroundings, and road conditions at all times. Visibility, weather, and road conditions may affect feature performance. Read the vehicle’s owner’s manual for more important feature limitations and information.
2MSRP. Tax, title, license, dealer fees and optional equipment extra. Dealer sets final price.
3Visit onstar.com for details and limitations. Services vary by model. Service plan required.
4Always pay attention while driving and when using Super Cruise. Always use Super Cruise in accordance with local laws. Do not use a hand-held device. Requires active Super Cruise plan or trial. Terms apply.
