Honda Accord Ranks Supreme in Warning Collision Systems
Auto safety technologies may help reduce the number of people killed in traffic accidents. Those technologies range all the way from electronic stability control – which is now available on a large number of models – to forward collision warning systems and lane departure warning systems.
New tests by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) finds that a combination of a lane departure warning system and forward collision avoidance technology on the Honda Accord actually helps reduce the number of car accident insurance claims.
The results seem to indicate that the Honda Accord’s crash avoidance system delivers a better than expected performance compared to other vehicles in the same category.
Honda Accord’s Safety Performance
The HLDI recently conducted the first real-world study of crash avoidance technology on a non-luxury vehicle.
The study found that Honda’s system, which is based on combined forward collision and lane departure warning technology, reduced insurance claims for:
- car accident damage to other vehicles by as much as 14 percent;
- claims based on injuries to occupants of the equipped car by 27 percent; and
- claims for injuries to other users on the road by as much as 40 percent.
Those are impressive statistics. According to the HLDI, the reduction in claims involving the Honda Accord is similar to the figures found earlier in cars equipped with both crash avoidance technology and auto braking.
The HLDI study found that not only did the crash avoidance system on the Honda Accord help prevent accidents, it also seemed to help to mitigate the risk of accidents unrelated to the feature, even though the system doesn’t feature auto-braking.
Do collision avoidance systems work?
Collision avoidance systems, also known as pre-crash avoidance systems, are designed to make use of a combination of technologies including lasers as well as strategically-placed camera sensors, to detect an accident risk in the car’s path. That risk could include another car, a pedestrian, an animal or a stationary object.
In some systems, this technology warns the driver about the imminent risk of an accident, while in other cars, the system takes action to reduce the risk of an accident, even if the driver fails to act to prevent an accident. For instance, the system may automatically activate the brakes, thereby avoiding an accident.
Lane departure warning systems, on the other hand, deliver a warning to the driver, when he is in danger of veering out of his lane. The driver could be in danger of leaving his lane when he is inattentive, distracted, fatigued or drowsy.
Drivers, of course, shouldn’t assume that inclusion of a crash avoidance system gives them the right to check their phone or otherwise engage in non-driving-related tasks.
If you have suffered injuries in a car accident, speak with a car accident attorney to discuss your rights to compensation. Call 800-LAW-1222 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney at Rob Levine & Associates. You only pay us when we recover damages for you.
