A recent study was done by The Highway Loss Data Institute
to determine how well some of the new safety technologies installed on some new
car models are doing in terms of preventing accidents. The results showed that some of these
technologies were clear winners while some were not performing as well. Anyone
who is considering purchasing a new car, could very well find themselves having
to make a choice about which of these new safety systems to have installed in the new vehicle. This
study can help you decide which ones might be worth the costs and which may
not.
To find out more about which of these new technologies is
doing its job, researchers looked at collision, property damage and bodily
injury claims on vehicles with model years between 2000 and 2011. They studied automobile
insurance claims occurring between January 2008 and August 2011. They decided to study insurance claims
instead of just looking at fatal accident data because of the sheer number of
insurance claims. This large number
allowed them to find statistically significant sample sizes to draw better
conclusions than if they had just focused on fatality data.
So which safety systems provided the best results? Well, the two big winners in terms of
reducing the number of crashes were adaptive headlights and forward collision
avoidance systems. The collision
avoidance systems that worked best were those that allowed the car to activate
the brakes, independent of the driver.
Adaptive headlights
are able to bend with the road and shine around the curve that you are
approaching. As you approach a curve in
the road, adaptive headlights will be aimed where you are headed as opposed to
straight out in front of the car. This also minimizes the shine of headlights
in opposing driver’s eyes. These
headlights manage this trick by using electronic sensors to detect the speed of
the car, how far the driver has turned the steering wheel, and the yaw of the
car. Adaptive headlight systems were
shown to reduce accident frequency by 10%.
Forward collision avoidance systems are systems that scan
the road ahead taking measurements of the cars speed in order to either alert
the driver or apply the brakes if an accident is imminent. Researchers found that vehicles made by Acura
and Mercedes Benz with a forward-collision avoidance system with autonomous
braking had 14% fewer claims under property damage liability than the same
models without this feature. Volvo’s
system reduced these types of wrecks by 10%.
There were some safety systems that may not be worth the
money. The big surprise was with lane-departure
warning systems. These systems can alert
drivers if they cross the center line or are in danger of running off the road.
Some such as the Lexus system will even correct the steering to prevent the car
from drifting out of a lane or from drifting off of the road. The
data studied showed that these systems actually increased claims. Perhaps they were distracting the
drivers. While the increased chance of a wreck with
these systems is not statistically significant, the researchers did draw the
conclusion that these types of systems were not reducing accidents.
A few other systems, like blind spot detection and park
assist will require more study. There
was not enough data for the research to determine one way or another if these
systems were reducing claims.
At Clinard
Insurance Group, located in Winston Salem NC, we insure thousands of
families all across North Carolina. If
you would like an agent who will take the time to know you and your particular
situation, and be here in the future when you need to speak to him or her
again, then Clinard Insurance Group is the place for you. We are an independent insurance agency so we
can give you choices about pricing, coverage and which insurance companies to
use. We would love to be your helpful
consultant for your auto insurance, your home
insurance, your life
insurance, or the insurance
for your business. Please call us,
toll free, at 877-687-7557 and let us get to work helping you today.
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