Want to Avoid Fender Benders? Study Shows You Need This Feature, But Not All Cars Have It

What Car Shoppers Need to Know

• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study quantifies benefits of modern safety technologies
• Rear automatic emergency braking contributes to tremendous decrease in insurance claims
• Technology is not available on all vehicles, but is standard on many

If you’re shopping for a new car and comparing feature lists and prices of different models — or different trim levels of the same vehicle — you might be weighing the potential benefits of additional safety technologies against their impact on the sticker price. Are they really worth it? A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says, “Absolutely.”

Related: Today’s Safest New Cars Don’t Include Minivans, According to Crash-Test Organization

Actually, IIHS Chief Insurance Operations Officer Matt Moore employed a term rarely encountered in the measured, data-centric world of insurance: awesome.

“These technologies are awesome,” he said. “As they improve and become more common, we are seeing compounding crash reductions.” Moore also identified a surprising standout in a field of technologies that can help drivers emerge safely from possible crashes: Humble rear automatic emergency braking received the agency’s full-throated endorsement.

Quantity Over Severity

“If you’re worried about rising repair costs,” Moore said, “the smartest thing you can do is get a vehicle with rear AEB and make sure it is turned on.” Rear automatic emergency braking is a relatively simple step beyond rear parking sensors or rear cross-traffic alert, which detects vehicles approaching from the sides when you are backing up — say, out of a parking spot in a crowded lot. Since these are typically low-speed collisions, the tech is unlikely to prevent the sort of collision that will lead to massive repair bills or a totaled vehicle. But IIHS notes low-speed parking lot fender benders are vastly more common than more severe crashes, accounting for the bulk of insurance claims.

As with other driver-assist systems, rear automatic emergency braking is becoming increasingly common. It enjoys nowhere near the ubiquity of technologies such as forward collision warning, but it’s now widely available. It’s standard on even the base trim level of many vehicles listed below. Consider them for your next purchase.

Sub-$50,000 Cars With Rear Automatic Emergency Braking

About the Study

To minimize variables for this study, IIHS looked at claim data for vehicles from a single manufacturer. It examined collisions involving Mazdas from model-years 2015-23, which were available with six increasingly comprehensive bundles of driver-assist systems.

The most basic bundle was forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking. The most extensive added adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane departure steering assist, pedestrian detection, a driver attention monitor and rear automatic emergency braking. Four stand-alone features were also considered: blind spot monitors with rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive headlights that turn with the steering wheel, head-up displays and road-sign recognition.

In general, the study found that vehicles with more safety technologies were associated with fewer claims. Only driver attention monitors and road-sign recognition offered no clear benefit. IIHS also noted that some safety technologies lead to increased repair costs when collisions do occur, which is due to the added cost of replacing the necessary sensors and other components.

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