New Car Technology

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In the insurance world additional safety features
on cars has usually led to fewer accidents and
that is good news for both the insurance industry
and for us a driver.
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In the past decade, our cars and trucks have been
equipped with so much technology that the consul
of my car now looks like something from a Star
Wars movie.
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My car has multiple cameras, air bags in every
part of the interior, impact sensors, special
braking and collision avoidance systems.
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I have spent hours reading my owners manual and
I still dont know half of what my car is
supposed to be able to do to make me feel safer.
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Now I find that the Travelers Insurance Company
recently reported that research funded by the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has
determined the benefits of all of this technology
has yet to be proven.
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Does Car Technology Lead To fewer Accidents
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Take Lane Departure Warning Systems, for example.
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This technology is designed to eliminate the
blind spot for drivers changing lanes and to
prevent potential collisions from happening.
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The obvious danger here is that some drivers will
no longer feel the need to actually look to check
their blind spot and will depend completely on
the technology, technology which the insurance
industry says need improvement before they can
recognize its value.
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Then we can look at Forward Collision Avoidance
Systems, which are designed to let the driver
know that they are too close the vehicle ahead of
them are about to have a collision.
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This technology may give drivers a false sense of
security and lead them to take their eyes away
from where they should be on the road!
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I know that we are still years away from self
driving cars, but prototypes have been created
that can reach speeds of 25 miles per hour and
these vehicles have sensors that allow the
vehicle to see roughly 600 feet in all directions.
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In my mind, I think that existing technologies
with existing drivers needs to be proven to
result in fewer accidents themselves, before we
share the road with self driving vehicles.
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And one more thing to consider with all this new
technology is the cost of replacing and repairing
this technology when it has been damaged in a
collision.
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For insurance rates go down, the cost of the
average repair needs to go down as well.
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This is not going to happen when a single sensor
costs more than replacing an entire bumper or
side door.
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The bottom line for drivers is that whatever
technology their car may be equipped with, there
is no replacement for drivers themselves, when it
comes to having fewer accidents on the road.