Pay lower monthly premiums for Volvo Cars?
Recently, in one of the most comprehensive scientific studies ever performed on vehicle collision avoidance – Volvo cars have been found to reduce insurance claims from rear-end frontal collision by an impressive 28%!
The study is based on real-life accumulated insurance claims data from Swedish insurers, “If and Volvia” and conclusively reveals the effectiveness of auto braking collision avoidance systems.
Volvo’s “City Safety” system greatly reduces the incidence of whiplash and other neck related injuries caused by low-speed traffic accidents, as well as reducing accident damage to their cars as a result of these accidents.
The study is based on robust insurance company data, covering over 160,000 vehicles per year. Unlike police or emergency response data, this study covers all accidents – regardless of whether people are injured or not.
“Volvo Cars launched its first collision avoidance technology in 2006. City Safety was introduced as standard in all new Volvo car models from 2008. Since then we’ve been monitoring the performance of our collision avoidance systems in Volvo Cars throughout Sweden, where we have a 20 per cent market share. This is a very strong statistical sample to base findings on, as every fifth car on the road in Sweden is a Volvo,” said Magdalena Lindman, Technical Expert, Traffic Safety Data Analysis at Volvo Cars.
A step closer to autonomous cars:
“We see our continuous development of collision avoidance and steering assist systems as stepping stones towards autonomous cars. Volvo Cars is already at the forefront of autonomous car development and our huge credibility in car safety is a major advantage. We believe that collision avoidance systems will be an enabler for cars that do not crash and allow people the freedom to drive or be driven in comfort to their destination,” concluded Magdalena Lindman.
As a result of these findings, insurance premiums are up to 25% lower in Sweden for Volvo cars. Volvo South Africa has made local insurance companies aware of the benefits of their “City Safety” features, however it remains the prerogative of each insurance company to set up their premiums based on individual client profiles. So I would imagine they do factor this into their evaluations!