Air Bags and Their Impact on Collision Insurance Losses 1999-01-1063
It is generally accepted that airbags have beneficial impacts on vehicle occupants, reducing serious to minor injuries and in some cases avoiding injuries. There have also been some indications of the drawback of airbags deployments in certain situations, especially for unrestrained infants. The cost associated with reinstallation o replacement airbags may, however, adversely affect the cost of insurance collision claims. This cost and its impact on collision insurance losses are the subjects o this study.
Factorial and paired comparison designs are utilized to analyze the losses in five accident years. The results of these analyses indicate an overall 4.6% increase in the collision portion of claims severity for the airbagequipped vehicles. This increase is statistically highly significant and supported by the strength of the evidence provided by the data.
