Last week, The Covenant Car Company, Inc. (TCCI), the company behind the Chevrolet brand in the country, organized a special event dubbed ‘Behind the Heel,’ in celebration of International Women’s Month. The fun and practical event was an entire day’s dedication to learning more about everyday defensive driving. Although safety should be of core importance to everyone – and not differentiated by gender – it is no secret that women indeed tend to put a high premium on overall safety.
The event was held in Westgate Alabang, and started the day with an introductory, free class of Krav Maga, a unique, and very practical self-defense system that was originally developed for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and other Israeli security forces. Even Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot had to learn Krav Maga, having trained in the Israeli military.
Fortunately, the skill is now also being taught in the Philippines, under the helm of the International Krav Maga Federation (IKMF) – one of the first and leading Krav Maga organizations in the world.
Chevrolet hired the same organization to hold its ‘Behind the Heel’ Krav Maga class for its female participants – myself included. Our very articulate instructor was Dindo de Jesus – the Chief Instructor of IKMF Philippines and Regional Director of IKMF Asia. The participants were ladies of different backgrounds and from different age groups. We spent our class doing different drills that focused on techniques that exploited our instinctive reactions to dangerous situations. Among the attacks we practiced to foil and escape from during our intro class were: a person throwing a punch; a person attempting to choke us; and a person attempting to stab us (overhead and underhand).
The remainder of the afternoon was spent learning several defensive driving techniques – in an open lot within West Gate, under the driving supervision of the Flat Out Racing group. The vehicles that were used for this defensive driving afternoon session were the Chevrolet Trailblazer 7-seater midsize SUV and the Chevrolet Colorado High Country Storm pickup. Both vehicles champion occupant safety as they are equipped with a variety of modern safety technologies.
Among the trademark active and passive safety features of the Trailblazer are: its Traction Control System (TCS), Panic Brake Assist (PBA) – which helps brake the vehicle when a collision is imminent, Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Hill Descent Control (HDC) – which uses the gears to automatically slow down your vehicle while descending, so you can free your foot from manually stepping on the brakes, Hill Start Assist (HSA) – so you don’t have to worry about rolling backwards when at a stop-and-go on a steep incline, Anti-Rolling Protection and Trailer Sway Control. Of course, the usual ABS and front airbags are standard.
Meanwhile, the Colorado High Country Storm features Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Forward Collision Alert, a Tire Pressure Monitoring System, Traction Control System, Electronic Brake Force Distribution, Hill Start Assist, Hill Descent Control, Electronic Stability Control, Trailer Sway Control, front and rear parking assist, and a rear camera with dynamic guidelines. ABS and dual airbags are also standard.
The new variant of the Trailblazer which will be officially launched at the MIAS this week – the Trailblazer Z71 – also comes with the latest safety suite, which includes features such as:Forward Collision Alert, Side Blind Zone Alert, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Front and Rear Parking Assist, and a Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It even now includes a ‘Remote Engine Start’ – which you can use to remotely start the engine to begin cooling your car before you hop in this summer.
Both the Trailblazer and High Country Storm are fitted with an 8-inch touchscreen that uses the latest Chevrolet MyLink Infotainment System. The said system is compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Chevrolet is one of the global automotive brands that has been renowned for supporting the advancement of women in the workplace. General Motors (GM) – which is the American multinational corporation under which Chevrolet belongs – appointed a female, Mary Barra, as its first-ever female CEO in 2014. As a matter of fact, she became the first-ever female CEO of a major automotive company in the world. And in 2018, GM appointed another female in its executive branch, Dhivya Suryadevara as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Chevrolet Philippines’ very own SVP and Director for Marketing Services, Lyn Buena says: “Our brand promise is for you to ‘Find Your Roads’! So we should always find better ways to do things, and to develop ourselves endlessly!”