Skip to main content

Drivers want semi-autonomous safety features

Blind spot detection and rear-view cameras with park assist were the two features that tied for consumers' most-wanted car safety technology in a recent Edmunds.com survey. Edmunds polled more than 2,000 active site visitors to explore the vehicle safety technologies that most appealed to them for their next car purchase. “The most wanted features, like the blind spot detection, act more like co-pilots for your car,” said Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury, “providing drivers with 360 degrees of informati
November 7, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Blind spot detection and rear-view cameras with park assist were the two features that tied for consumers' most-wanted car safety technology in a recent 6843 Edmunds.com survey. Edmunds polled more than 2,000 active site visitors to explore the vehicle safety technologies that most appealed to them for their next car purchase.

“The most wanted features, like the blind spot detection, act more like co-pilots for your car,” said Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury, “providing drivers with 360 degrees of information they wouldn't otherwise have.”

In the survey, 89 per cent of people said they wanted their next car to have rear-view cameras with park assist, which is another term for rear back-up sensors. Among those respondents, 61 per cent were willing to pay US$100 to US$500 for the camera and sensors.

Those unwilling to pay for back-up camera technology now only have to wait a couple years. By law, rear-view monitoring technology will be standard on all vehicles by the 2018 model year.

“Safety technology has evolved from features that mitigate the severity of an accident to features that can prevent an accident, bringing us closer to fully autonomous driving,” Drury said.

Blind spot detection tied for the most-wanted feature: 89 per cent want it and 56 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to pay US$100 to US$500 for it.

Automatic high beams were the least-valued technology, with 65 per cent of respondents expressing interest in the technology, but not a willingness to pay extra for it.

Adaptive headlights were a popular feature, with 80 per cent of respondents wanting the technology on their next vehicle, but 95 per cent of them unwilling to pay more than US$500 for it.

Front crash prevention technology, which includes forward collision warning and autonomous braking systems, took third place among the most wanted features in the survey, with 79 per cent of people wanting it in their next vehicle. Among those who wanted front crash prevention, 55 per cent were willing to pay up to US$500 and an additional 16 per cent would pay up to US$1,000.

“Consumers told us they both wanted and were willing to pay for front crash prevention, which leads us to believe that drivers are receptive to some self-driving elements of the latest safety technologies,” said Drury.

Related Content

  • March 17, 2017
    Europe’s road safety gains have stagnated EU
    Europe will fail to meet its road death targets as enforcement budgets are slashed and drivers face an epidemic of distractions. The European Union will not achieve its aim of halving the number of people killed on its roads each year by 2020, delegates to Tispol’s (the organisation of European traffic police) annual conference in Manchester were told. “The target will be missed because there was only a 17% decrease in road fatalities across Europe between 2010 and 2015 when [the rate of reduction] should h
  • March 25, 2014
    Auto-braking cars: government should meet motorists halfway
    A UK Government incentive for drivers buying cars with anti-crash technology would save 60 lives and result in 760 fewer serious casualties reported to the police, in just three years. Over ten years, such an incentive would save 1,220 lives and nearly 136,000 casualties, according to Thatcham Research, the insurance industry’s automotive research centre. At a briefing seeking support from senior politicians, health organisations, insurers and vehicle manufacturers at the House of Commons today, Peter S
  • April 29, 2016
    Consumer interest builds for 'gateway' automated vehicle technologies, says study
    Trust in automation technology is very much age dependent, as younger consumers have a notably higher level of confidence in the technology than their older counterparts, according to the J.D. Power 2016 US Tech Choice Study, which says trust in automation technology is a critical step toward the future of automated vehicles. The study was conducted in February through March 2016 and is based on an online survey of more than 7,900 consumers who purchased/leased a new vehicle in the past five years.
  • June 2, 2014
    Crash prevention systems improving rapidly says IIHS
    According to its latest report, less than a year into a new Insurance |Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) ratings program for front crash prevention, auto manufacturers are making strides in adopting the most beneficial systems with automatic braking capabilities and are offering the features on a wider variety of models. Twenty-one of 24 cars and SUVs, all 2014 models unless noted, earn an advanced or higher rating in the latest round of IIHS evaluations. "We are already seeing improvements from automaker