'MythBusters' Star Adam Savage Takes on Car Safety Tech

CARS.COM — He used to bust myths. Now he’s ‘splainin’ safety tech. Adam Savage, erstwhile co-star of Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters,” is loaning his surly-science-geek persona to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a series of videos demonstrating the merits of advanced auto safety features in modern cars.

Related: Are Smartphones to Blame for Pedestrian Death Toll?

“Ninety-four percent of car crashes involve human error,” Savage notes in one of the videos, citing NHTSA stats. “Error that may have been avoided if a different choice had been made — choices that may have been different with crash-avoidance technology.”

Five videos are now available for viewing, featuring Savage using his characteristic humor and enthusiastic attitude while testing out several of today’s available safety features. The current videos cover technologies including:

Auto Emergency Braking

Pedestrian Detection

Forward Collision Warning

Lane Keep Assist

Blind Spot Detection

Fans of the popular “MythBusters” TV show, which aired from 2003 to 2016, will enjoy Savage’s entertaining demonstrations of what potentially could be the dry subject matter of technology that can save lives on the road. In the segment on blind spot detection, Savage rides with a female passenger who admonishes him sharply as he attempts to change lanes when another car is driving in his blind spot (at 35 mph on a closed track, of course). He characterizes this spousal scenario representing the previous-generation version of the current technology.

“The new cars can actually tell you when someone is in your blind spot,” he explains. “And this new system is much … much more reliable.”

Now that’s what you call a Savage burn.