Analysis of the Field Effectiveness of General Motors Production Active Safety and Advanced Headlighting Systems

Abstract

The safety system content of over 3.7 million vehicles across 20 different GM Model Year 2013-2017 vehicles were provided by GM to UMTRI to examine the field effectiveness of 15 Active Safety and Advanced Headlighting systems. These data were matched to police-report data from vehicles involved in crashes using 10 state crash databases. Using the quasi-induced exposure method, comparisons of system-relevant and control crash counts for equipped and unequipped vehicles were used to estimate field effectiveness using logistic regression. Results indicated Automatic Emergency Braking reduced rear-end striking crashes by 46%, Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning reduced lane departure-related crashes by 20%, Lane Change Alert with Side Blind Zone Alert reduced lane change crashes by 26%, Reverse Automatic Braking (offered with several backing systems) reduced backing crashes by 81%, and Intellibeam (automatic high beams) and High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlight features provided 35% and 21% reductions, respectively, in nighttime pedestrian/bicyclist/animal crashes relative to halogen headlights (with a 49% reduction when offered together). These results provide further evidence of the substantial safety benefit opportunities afforded by the systems evaluated.