Automobile Damageability and Insurance Costs 740305
This paper concerns automobile damageability resulting from low-speed collisions. Both crash test and real collision data related to speed and repair costs are examined, as are current legislation and new engineering practices and hardware designed to reduce damage.
Examination of the data led to several conclusions, among them that, contrary to widespread belief, manufacturers are not building more fragile cars now. It was also found from crash test data that 1973 model cars will incur lower repair costs. Other consumer benefits and cost penalties are examined in detail.