Automotive safety has certainly come a long way over the last couple of decades, and today, a number of Ford Motor Company vehicles have earned awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), including a Top Safety Pick for the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E and a Top Safety Pick+ for the Ford Bronco Sport. Much of this can be attributed to the presence of modern crash avoidance technology like Ford Co-Pilot360, which appears to benefit younger drivers more than any other demographic, according to the IIHS.
New data from the IIHS shows that crash avoidance technology is credited with a greater reduction in crashes and insurance claims among those ages 25 and younger than those older than 25. The organization obtained this data by conducting separate studies of insurance claims for Honda, Kia, and Subaru vehicles equipped with crash avoidance systems and compared them against vehicles that did not offer this technology.
Each manufacturer offers different types of safety tech, but in this case, all three of the analyzed brands featured some sort of forward collision warning and lane departure warning system, while two of the three came equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB) features – Subaru and Kia. IIHS notes that studies have found AEB helps prevent two types of crashes that are more prominent among young drivers – run-off-road and front-to-rear collisions. In this study, AEB also led to larger reductions in claim frequencies.
In all instances, claim frequencies were lower for those under the age of 25 in vehicles equipped with these safety features when compared to the older age group. The only exception pertained to Honda’s crash avoidance features, which provided a similar benefit for all age groups. Regardless, the data proves that the presence of this technology can benefit drivers of all ages, particularly those under the age of 25.
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Comment
Not surprising at all. There’s a synonym for ‘Ran off the road” and “rear-ended the next innocent victim” crashes: “I was texting / screwing with my phone” crashes.