Driver assistance systems are linked to fewer insurance claims, though crashes that still occur can carry higher repair costs, according to a Highway Loss Data Institute study of Mazda vehicles released earlier this spring.
The study examined advanced driver assistance systems on 2015-23 Mazda vehicles. Researchers compared six feature bundles and four stand-alone systems, including front automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, rear automatic emergency braking and Driver Attention Alert.
The most basic bundle included front AEB with forward collision warning. That bundle was associated with a 13% reduction in property damage liability claim rates and a 9% reduction in bodily injury liability claim rates.
The most comprehensive bundle included front AEB with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, high-beam assist, lane departure warning, lane departure prevention, rear AEB and Driver Attention Alert. That bundle was linked to a 39% drop in property damage liability claim rates and a 21% drop in bodily injury liability claim rates, though the bodily injury result was not statistically significant.
“These technologies are awesome,” said Matt Moore, chief insurance operations officer at HLDI and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “As they improve and become more common, we are seeing compounding crash reductions.”
The largest added reductions came with front AEB with pedestrian detection and rear AEB, according to the release. The release states that updated front AEB systems were likely better than older versions at preventing crashes with other vehicles, while rear AEB helped prevent low-speed parking lot crashes.
“If you’re worried about rising repair costs, the smartest thing you can do is get a vehicle with rear AEB and make sure it is turned on,” Moore said.
Researchers also looked at blind spot detection and rear cross traffic alert, which could not be assessed separately because Mazda vehicles package the features together. The combined features use the same rear-bumper radar sensors and were associated with nearly 10% lower property damage liability claim frequency and 13% lower bodily injury liability claim frequency.
Most bundles and individual systems were associated with higher claim severity, which represents the cost paid to settle a claim. The release links that increase partly to the higher cost of replacing sensors and other components used by crash avoidance systems. It also notes that crash avoidance systems remove many slower, lower-cost crashes from the claims mix, which can push the average cost of remaining claims higher.
Overall losses offer a broader measure because they combine claim frequency and claim severity. All bundles and features except Traffic Sign Recognition were associated with lower overall losses under property damage liability coverage. A few were associated with minor increases under collision coverage, which covers damage to the policyholder’s own vehicle.
