A new study reveals just how effective various active safety technology is. Although some drivers may feel some of this technology is overbearing, the results of the study highlight the importance of having vehicles equipped with new safety features.
About the Study
Researchers from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and General Motors teamed up to develop a better understanding about how certain safety technology helps prevent accidents from occurring.
Researchers examined 3.7 million 2013 to 2017 GM vehicles across 20 different models based on information collected in police report crash databases. 15 different systems were analyzed, including active safety technology and passive features like HID highlights and backup cameras.
Study Findings
The study found that many safety features helped reduce crashes. The most effective form of safety technology that helped prevent collisions was reverse automatic emergency braking, which applies the brakes when a driver is backing out of a parking space if the vehicle detects movement from another vehicle or other object. The study found that these types of accidents were reduced by 81% due to this feature.
Additionally, automatic emergency braking was effective in reducing the number of collisions. This feature automatically applies the brakes when the vehicle senses that a collision is about to occur. This technology is often bundled with forward collision alert, which gives a warning to a driver about a possible crash. These technologies combined reduced rear-end collisions by 46%.
Other technology that was tested and its rate of reducing collisions include:
- Rear cross traffic alert systems – 52%
- Headlight systems equipped with automatic high beams and HID headlights – 49%
- Rear park assist – 38%
- Headlight systems equipped with automatic high beams – 35%
- HID headlights – 21%
- Rear vision camera – 21%
In addition to helping drivers avoid collisions with other motorists, some of these technological systems were also shown to reduce collisions with pedestrians, cyclists and animals.
Use of Safety Technology
GM has only recently started to include these technologies as standard equipment in its various models of vehicles. Previously, the features could be added to the vehicles as upgrades or options that added thousands of dollars to the price tag for the vehicle. The 2021 Chevy Trailblazer will be one of the first GM models to include active safety technology as part of its standard suite of amenities.
