While they may not be life-or-death situations, vehicles fitted with the latest forward auto-braking systems are indeed preventing rear-end collisions.
In the first ever study of the technology’s effectiveness, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in Arlington, Va., found that forward auto-braking systems reduce crashes by around 40 percent. Forward collision warning systems, without the self-stopping aspect, were found to reduce rear-enders by 23 percent, with both figures based on police-reported accident data.
“The success of front crash prevention represents a big step toward safer roads,” says David Zuby, IIHS chief research officer. “As this technology becomes more widespread, we can expect to see noticeably fewer rear-end crashes.” To that end, the IIHS predicts that equipping all vehicles with auto-braking technology would cut the number of rear-end collisions by at least 700,000 a year.
Unfortunately, while their availability is becoming more widespread, such systems are typically optional, and are often limited to higher trim levels within a given model line, and typically come bundled in costly option packages.
– Jim Gorzelany
© CTW Features
