Who Makes Safe Vehicles? Insurance Experts Say Mazda Does

With more and bigger vehicles on American streets and highways, safety has become a greater concern. Mazda is stepping up to meet the challenge by equipping its vehicles with advanced safety technology. The payoff is lower property damage liability and bodily injury liability claims. 

That’s according to a recent study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety and its Highway Loss Data Institute. It’s an independent but insurance industry-backed research and ratings organization. The HLDI’s study found that Mazda’s advanced driver assistance and safety technologies are successfully reducing insurance claim rates from several crash types. 

The study analyzed six feature bundles and four stand-alone systems in Mazda vehicles dating from 2015 through 2023. Mazda North American Operations’ Director of Vehicle safety Strategy Jennifer Morrison said, “This independent research underscores the value of our holistic, human centric approach to crash avoidance and the importance of making these technologies broadly accessible.”

Not surprisingly, more features offered bigger drops in claims:

Mazda’s basic safety  bundle, including front automatic emergency braking (AEB) with forward collision warning resulted in:

• A 13% reduction in property damage liability (PDL) claims.
• A 9% reduction in bodily injury liability (BIL) claims.

Mazda’s most comprehensive safety bundle, added onto the basic bundle with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, high beam assist, lane departure warning and prevention, rear automatic emergency braking, and Mazda’s Driver Attention Alert system. It resulted in:

• A 39% reduction in PDL claims.
• A 21% reduction in BIL claims

The research revealed that the biggest reductions could be attributed to front AEB with pedestrian detection and rear AEB, which really helped with reducing low-speed parking lot collisions.

Adding blind-spot monitoring with rear cross traffic alert provided extra protection: almost 10% reduction in PDL claim frequency and 13% lower BIL claim frequency. 

The slight downside to adding enhanced safety technologies is that sensors enabling them are expensive to replace when damaged. According to HLDI Chief Insurance Operations Officer Matt Moore, “Another important factor is that crash avoidance systems primarily eliminate crashes that occur at slower speeds. That takes low-dollar claims out of the equation and skews the average cost upward.” 

But Mazda is committed to saving lives and minimizing property damage, and it shows in other ways, such as Mazda’s stellar record with safety evaluations by the IIHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Mazda won more IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+ awards this year than any other brand. Consumer Reports named Mazda the Safest New Car Brand.

Safe, comfortable, stylish and fuel efficient. It’s a recipe for consumer confidence.