Impact of Crash Avoidance Technologies on Auto Insurance Claims
A recent analysis by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) of Mazda vehicles reveals important shifts in auto insurance trends due to crash avoidance technologies. The study shows that while insurance claims are decreasing significantly with the integration of multiple safety features into vehicles, the cost of remaining claims is rising—an established observation among collision repair businesses.
This research, released on March 26, focused on safety feature combinations and individual systems in Mazda vehicles from model years 2015 to 2023. Basic features like front automatic emergency braking with forward collision warning led to a 13% reduction in property damage liability claims and a 9% decrease in bodily injury claims. Advanced safety packages including pedestrian detection and lane departure warning resulted in a 39% drop in property damage claims, though improvements in bodily injury claims were not statistically significant, according to HLDI.
A notable trend observed is the rising average cost per claim despite declining frequency. HLDI attributes this to lower-speed crash prevention technologies, which reduce low-cost claims and increase the average expense of remaining claims. Matt Moore, chief insurance operations officer at HLDI, highlighted that crash avoidance technologies primarily mitigate lower-speed collisions, impacting average cost dynamics.
Data from CCC Intelligent Solutions shows a 10.4% reduction in repairable claims by August 2025 compared to the previous year. Moreover, advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) calibrations were part of 35.6% of repair estimates in the third quarter, indicating significant growth compared to last year.
Mazda-specific data from HLDI supports this industry-wide trend. While fewer vehicles require repairs, those that do need more complex diagnostics and calibration work, extending labor hours. Advances like pedestrian detection in front AEB have improved vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention, while rear AEB effectively prevents low-speed parking lot incidents.
Technologies such as blind spot monitoring paired with rear cross-traffic alerts also significantly reduced claims, marking a decrease of about 10% in property damage and 13% in bodily injury claims. Mazda’s ADAS bundles generally contributed to lower property damage losses when evaluating overall loss ratios.
As the industry evolves with these findings, diagnostic scans are becoming commonplace, appearing in 87.7% of collision repair estimates. Revv suggests that around 61% of vehicles entering repair facilities require some form of ADAS calibration. With longer repair cycle times for vehicles from 2019 and later, repair shops capable of handling in-house calibrations may gain a competitive advantage, while those outsourcing might face delays and increased expenses in the evolving landscape.