If you’re currently car shopping, you’re probably hearing a whole lot about which safety features the car you’re looking at comes with and which are optional. You may be wondering, do I need pedestrian detection or any of the other safety features?
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The question becomes: do safety systems prevent accidents? Experts released an infographic detailing different safety systems’ effectiveness, and the results may surprise you.
Who are the Experts, and What do they Do?
The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from motor vehicle crashes through research and evaluation and education of consumers, policymakers and safety professionals.” They test a variety of vehicles each year. They also publish the results of their crash tests so that people can make informed decisions when car shopping.
The IIHS also tracks the effectiveness of safety systems. Along with the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), the IIHS compared rates of police-reported accidents and insurance claims for vehicles with safety features and without them. What they found was surprising.
Forward Collision Warning Systems are Very Effective
Forward collision warning reduced the likelihood of a front-to-rear collision by 27% and front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 20%. Notably, it reduced large truck front-to-rear crashes by 44%. Collisions with large trucks often don’t end well for smaller vehicle occupants. Safety systems like forward collision warning in bigger vehicles can be life-saving.
The results were even better when the forward collision warning was combined with auto brake. Front-to-rear crashes were reduced by 50%, and front-to-rear crashes with injuries were reduced by 56%. Large truck front-to-rear crashes were reduced by 41% in trucks with forward collision warnings and auto brakes.
Rear Automatic Braking Reduces most Backing-Up Accidents
Backing crashes (when combined with rearview camera and parking sensors) were reduced by an astonishing 78% with rear automatic braking. Moreover, claim rates for damage to other vehicles were cut down by 28% in vehicles equipped with rear automatic braking. Rearview cameras cut down on 17% of backing crashes, and rear cross-traffic alerts helped by reducing them by 22%.
Lane departure warning eliminates 11% of single-vehicle, sideswipe, and head-on crashes and 21% of injury crashes of the same type. Additionally, blind spot warning reduces lane-change crashes by 14%, and lane-change crashes with injuries by 23%.
Conclusion
If you’re shopping for a new car, it isn’t hard to see why buying a vehicle with as many safety features as possible is essential. In addition to saving your and your family’s lives, you may also save the lives of other people on the road. You should always opt for the safest vehicle with the most safety features when you can.
