Severity of crashes drops thanks to ADAS uptake, research shows

3rd July 2023

A Thatcham Research study commissioned by Volkswagen Group into the impact of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) suggests that autonomous equipment is significantly reducing the likelihood of a crash resulting in serious damage to the vehicle.

Cruise control and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) have had a particularly striking effect, according to the study.

In the five-year period to 2020, crashes resulting in moderate damage fell from 57% of incidents to 46%, while severe damage edged down from 18% to 15%. Many of those serious accidents now result in much less significant damage – the proportion of incidents resulting in cosmetic repairs rose from 25% to 39%.

“Since autonomous driver aids have come in, we have seen the number of crashes tail off as a direct result of those safety aids,” said Audi head of direct sales Warren Richards (pictured).

With such equipment now offered as standard on an increasing number of models, more companies and drivers stand to benefit from the technology.

The Thatcham study predicts that by 2025, severe damage will have dropped to just 10%, moderate will be down to 33%, while cosmetic will account for more than half of incidents, at 57% – more than double the proportion of a decade earlier.

European legislation – which was integrated into UK law post Brexit – mandates that all new cars and vans produced after July 2024 must have intelligent speed assistance, reversing sensors or cameras, driver drowsiness warning, emergency stop signal, lane keepings systems and AEB fitted as standard.

All newly homologated vehicle types were required to include this equipment as standard from July 2022.