Optional front crash prevention systems prevent motor vehicle crashes, according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study of General Motors vehicles.
Crash prevention systems included automatic emergency braking and forward collision warning.
IIHS found GM vehicles with autobrake and forward collision warning had 64 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes with injuries and 43 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes compared to vehicles without front crash prevention technology.
Vehicles equipped with only forward collision warning had 30 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes with injuries and 17 percent front-to-rear crashes.
“The evidence has been mounting that front crash prevention works, and it works even better when it doesn’t solely rely on a response from the driver,” Jessica Cicchino, IIHS vice president for research and author of both studies, said.
The study involved Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC brands model years 2013 to 2015 and police-reported crashes from 23 states.
IIHS previously studied Acura, Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, and Volvo vehicles. In that study, IIHS found vehicles with a combination of forward collision warning and autobrake had 56 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes with injuries and 50 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes.
Vehicles without autobrake had 20 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes with injuries and 27 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes.