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Many Consumers Don’t Choose Newest Advanced Safety Tech

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The 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 is comes with Twin Engine technology and all of Volvo's advanced safety features.

Less consumers are opting for advanced safety features
Photo: Todd Lappin

The automotive industry is all about introducing new, innovative ways to keep drivers and passengers safe—but a recent study has revealed that these technologies might be for naught.

A study completed by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association found that many consumers hesitate to pay the extra price for the newest safety technology. Because this technology is so expensive, many consumers put their budgets above their safety.

So far this year, only 7% of new vehicles that roll off dealers’ lots have safety systems like Forward Collision Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control, and Automatic Emergency Braking.

While the price for these advanced safety technologies tend to seem high, BCG’s study has found that the price will actually lead to savings from the crashes and injuries this tech helps you avoid. For example, there were 6.07 million crashes in the US last year. This cost the economy $910 billion—the equivalent of $4,000 per vehicle.

To help increase the amount of consumers who actively want to pay for these technologies (and therefore, to make the road safer than they currently are), the group’s study suggests a variety of incentives. These include offering consumers tax credits for purchasing the safety technology.

As the technology continues to become more prevalent, hopefully, it will also become cheaper. Until then, we hope there will be some way to increase the use of this terrific safety tech.

News Source: Detroit Free Press