A recent study by the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) has found that the emergency braking systems in vehicles sold by General Motors greatly reduced the risk of rear-end collisions.
The data collected by the IIHS shows that GM equipped with both the automatic braking and forward collision alert systems saw the number of rear-end collisions decrease by 43%; even better, the number of collisions resulting in injuries fell by 64%. These figures come from comparisons with vehicles not equipped with these technologies.
In those vehicles equipped with only front collision alert, the rates of reduction were 17% and 30%, respectively.
The results actually mirror those of an earlier study conducted by the IIHS on vehicles made by Acura, Fiat, Chrysler, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru and Volvo. This study showed a decrease of 50% in rear-end collisions, and 56% in accidents resulting in injuries.
The new IIHS study looked at accident data for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles from 2013 to 2015 model years in 23 different American states.
The IIHS’ aim in publishing the results of this study is to force manufacturers to pick up the pace at which they are equipping their vehicles with an automatic braking system. Already, a group of 20 automakers has committed to making this technology standard equipment on all of their vehicles within the next four years.
