2005 Safety Report Card

Avoidance Vs. Worthiness
The crash avoidance revolution based on electronics poses a problem for safety researchers. It is similar to the anti-lock brake experience, Lund said. Anti-lock brakes worked well on the test track and "saved innumerable orange cones from imminent death." Based on that testing, IIHS urged discounts for insurance customers with anti-lock brakes. But real world data showed little or no benefit. With many of the crash avoidance technologies coming on the market, the safety benefit is not easily quantified. Will consumers with adjustable headlights avoid accidents on curves or drive faster because they can see farther?


Crashworthiness is easily tested in a lab. When a crash starts to occur, physics is all that matters. Crash avoidance adds human factors that can't be predicted in a lab. "Human behavior intervenes between what crash avoidance does and the actual effect," Lund said. "Will drivers turn off lane departure systems because it is too annoying? This is a challenge for us. We may be in the position we were in with ESC system, waiting for five years for the exposure to build up, so we can get the data. We have no test results for crash avoidance technology."