HLDI: Safety Benefits Stack up From Driver Assistance Features

Vehicle safety technologies like automatic emergency braking, lane departure prevention and high-beam assist are reducing insurance claims, according to a new study.

Safety benefits from these driver assistance features also increase as systems get bundled and updated, according to a study from the Highway Loss Data Institute examining the impact of advanced driver assistance systems on Mazda models from 2015 to 2023.

The HLDI compared six feature bundles and four other stand-alone systems with claim rates of collision, property damage liability and bodily injury liability. Researchers examined changes in claim frequency associated with bundled crash avoidance systems.

The most basic bundle in the study only consisted of front automatic emergency braking (AEB). The most advanced 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.

The larger bundles were more comprehensive and included advanced versions of the technologies included in smaller bundles.

The most basic bundle showed a 13% reduction in PDL claim rates and a reduction of 9% in BIL claim rates.

Benefits grew when adding each new technology, the most comprehensive bundle was connected to a 39% decrease in PDL claim rates and a 21% decrease in BIL claim rates.

The HLDI evaluated several other features which include blind spot detection with rear cross traffic alert, curve-adaptive headlights, heads-up display and traffic sign recognition. Smaller reductions in safety benefits were associated with curve-adaptive headlights and the heads-up display.

Most individual systems and bundles were associated with increases in claims severity. Those increases represent the high cost of replacing sensors and other parts that crash avoidance systems rely on. An important factor is that crash avoidance systems prevent crashes that occur at slow speeds, taking low-cost claims away and increasing average costs, according to researchers.