Driver assistance features are continuing to show major impacts on roadway safety.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) analyzed advanced driver assistance systems offered on 2015-23 Mazda vehicles and found substantial reduction in property damage and bodily injury claims as vehicles were equipped with more advanced safety features.
The study compared several feature bundles, ranging from the most basic package — which included the front automatic emergency braking (AEB) and incorporates forward collision warning — to a more comprehensive suite featuring front AEB with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, high-beam assist, lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, rear AEB and Driver Attention Alert, according to IIHS.
As Mazda introduced additional features, it also refined earlier systems, meaning the larger feature bundles included more advanced versions of core technologies such as front AEB.
The study found front AEB alone reduced property damage liability claims by 13% and bodily injury liability claims by 9%. These reductions increased as more advanced systems were added, with the most comprehensive package producing a 39% reduction in property damage liability claims and 21% decrease in bodily injury liability claims.
One exception was the Driver Attention Alert feature, which showed little measurable impact. This system only activates after roughly 20 minutes of driving at speeds between 41 and 86 mph.
According to the study, the largest safety gains came from front AEB with pedestrian detection and rear AEB systems.
Front AEB with pedestrian detection not only reduced pedestrian crashes but also proved more effective overall at preventing crashes than earlier versions of the technology.
Rear AEB also played a major role in lowering insurance claims by helping drivers avoid low-speed parking lot crashes, which account for a large share of insurance incidents.
The study also examined standalone driver assistance technologies available on Mazda vehicles.
Blind-spot detection and rear cross traffic alert — which detects approaching vehicles while backing up — are packaged together on Mazda vehicles because both systems use the same rear radar sensor. Together, the features reduced property damage liability claim frequency by 10%. and bodily injury liability claims by 13%.
Meanwhile, curve-adaptive headlights and heads-up displays — which project speed and navigation information onto the windshield — had only minor impacts on claim frequency. Traffic Sign Recognition show less conclusive results, according to IIHS.
Although the technologies helped reduce crashes, especially lower-speed incidents, the study found they also contributed to higher repair costs because the sensors and components used in these systems are more expensive to replace. The reduction in lower-cost crashes also raises the average cost of remaining claims.
Source: IIHS
