Safety Agency Surveys Car Owners, Ask About Safety Features

Several news agencies have been covering surveys indicating that drivers appear to be more interested in owning vehicles with better and more reliable connectivity features than safety functions.

These surveys show that drivers who are very interested in connectivity are more likely to overlook safety features. Due to the rise in the surveys, European agencies decided to carry their own survey to learn more about how often drivers purchase vehicles based on the presence of safety features.

According to a recent survey carried out by Opinion Matters on behalf of the Car Safety Rules, about 49.9 percent of all consumers who participated say they select technologies such as pre-crash warning systems and autonomous emergency braking systems when looking for a new vehicle. The survey also shows that about 75 percent of drivers who choose their cars based on the safety features were aware of the technologies prior to driving their vehicle out of the dealership’s lot.

While connectivity may be a priority to many drivers, the presence of in-car connectivity technology didn’t seem like an important aspect to most of the consumers surveyed by Opinion Matters. According to the research, only 27.8 percent of the drivers surveyed said they would consider connectivity technologies important features. About 67 percent of the drivers reported thinking that smartphones distract drivers too often.

Over 40 percent of drivers reported they became more focused on safety features when they witnessed another accident, were close to being involved in one or were involved in one. About 18.6 percent of them said they chose to buy a car with more reliable safety features after they had a child and 15.2 percent claimed to have bought a safer vehicle because of the bad winter driving conditions.

When it comes to autonomous car technologies, drivers were not as excited as they were when asked about safety features. The survey shows that while over 50 percent of drivers reported they wouldn’t mind being driven to their work or back home by a driverless automobile, only 15.5 percent of the drivers said they actually would want to purchase a vehicle with this technology.

While many drivers still overlook safety features and are oblivious of the dangers associated with choosing a vehicle that lacks important safety features and functions. Automakers understand the necessity of fighting the injury risk by developing more efficient safety features. Hopefully, more people will learn about the dangers associated with overlooking the technology in order to prevent injuries and make roads safer.

You can click here to read the full article to learn more about this survey.