4 Dangerous Car Accessories That Compromise Your Vehicle's Native Safety Features

There's no shortage of car gadgets to upgrade your driving experience, from adapters that add Bluetooth connectivity to your audio system to dashboard cameras that make your car a little more secure. Most accessories come with some risk, though, as in the event of an accident, anything that can come loose has the potential to hit you at a high speed. That's something to keep in mind even when adding basic accessories like phone mounts that clip to your vent or decorations.

Worse than that, though, is that some accessories are dangerous not just because they could be displaced in a crash, but because they interfere with aspects of your vehicle designed to keep you safe. This includes some common things you might already have like seat covers, as well as devices like lift kits and bull bars that you may mistakenly think make your car safer but actually have the opposite effect.

This one should be obvious, but dummy seatbelt buckles that intentionally trick your vehicle into thinking you are fastened in are incredibly dangerous. Some drivers install them to stop the beeps and lights that your car uses to remind you to buckle up, but all that does is negate a life-saving device that's known to make a difference in a crash.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seatbelts saved nearly 15,000 lives in 2017 alone. Another statistic that highlights the importance of seatbelts is that nearly 49% of those killed in car accidents in 2023 were not wearing their seatbelt. Without that extra protection keeping you in place, the force of the airbags inflating could seriously injure or even kill you. That's why many states have laws requiring the use of seatbelts. 

In 2025, Malaysia banned the sale and use of dummy seatbelts after a survey suggested that 12.9% of the participants used them. While no state specifically prohibits the devices, they pretty clearly violate any law requiring the proper use of seatbelts – which could get you in trouble if you're caught on an AI traffic camera. But more importantly, these devices can have dangerous consequences in an accident and are simply not a smart choice. Instead of going for them, you can have USB gadgets that improve your car's safety, such as tire inflaters and LED road flares.

Seat covers can be a nice way to personalize your car while protecting its upholstery from wear or stains. They can also make a seat more comfortable, especially if you have leather seats in the summer. Unfortunately, they can also interfere with your vehicle's side air bags, putting you at great risk in a crash. Not all cars have them, particularly older ones, but side airbags have pretty much become standard since the early 2010s.

Many vehicles have airbags installed in parts of the seats to provide protection to different areas. These can include cushion airbags that protect the chest and abdomen, rear seat airbags that come out of the back of the front seat to protect passengers in the back from hitting their heads, and inflatable seat belts (which are mainly in cars produced between 2011 and 2020). Seat covers can cause an airbag to not work properly, potentially causing more harm if it deploys wrong underneath the cover. There are some seat covers specifically designed to be compatible with side airbags, but if you're not sure, it's best to err on the side of caution.

If you drive a truck, you may have installed or considered installing a lift kit. These allow you to raise your vehicle's ride height by adding components to further separate the axles from the chassis. While they can improve your truck's performance on rough terrain and are often recommended for those who frequently go off-roading, they can increase your risk of getting into an accident or worsen the damage of one.

First, lifting your truck can impact its center of gravity, increasing the risk of rolling over during difficult turns. It also adds extra wear on the ball joints, which will cause you to completely lose control of the vehicle if they fail. Raising the truck also raises the bumpers, which can worsen accidents. If you rear-end someone, you'll be hitting the other vehicle with the front of the truck and not just the bumper, which is meant to withstand a little fender bender. On top of all that, laws surrounding lift kits and bumper height vary from state to state, and you risk voiding your truck's warranty. For all of these reasons, lift kits pose more dangers than they do solutions.

Bull bars are one of those devices that, under the right circumstances, can improve the safety of your vehicle. In most cases, though, these front-end mounted frames are more dangerous than they're worth. For one, they're quite heavy, adding extra strain on the engine and decreasing fuel efficiency. They can also impact the airbags' ability to activate.

More important than those, though, is the risk you pose to others when driving a vehicle with bull bars installed. While they'll keep you and your passengers safe in case of a crash, the frame will cause far more damage to whatever you hit, whether that's another car, a structure, or even a pedestrian. A bull bar can turn a less serious accident into a fatal one, which is why bull bars are only recommended for those who primarily drive in rural areas where there is a high risk of colliding with an animal.