Electronic eyesight can slash insurance bill

Subaru and Volvo - the only two car makers offering a radar-based collision avoidance system - claim some insurance companies will chop about $150 off the annual premiums of owners of their cars. The cars include premium versions of Subaru Liberty and Outback models, and six Volvo models.

The systems - called Eyesight by Subaru and City Safety by Volvo - fitted to both cars prevents forward contact with another object by autonomously applying the brakes and bring the car to a complete. It works at speeds below 30km/h though future Volvo models will increase this to 50km/h.

The savings to insurance companies are huge. Big insurer NRMA says that low-speed rear-end accidents are the most common vehicle accident repair jobs and that 75 per cent of these occur at speeds less than 25km/h.

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NRMA's research director Robert McDonald says there are 50,000 rear-end accidents in NSW each year with an estimated damage bill and insurance cost of $200 million.

That equates to about 200,000 accidents a year around Australia, costing about $800 million. "We are very confident that the technology will reduce the likelihood of the XC60 being involved in a collision,'' Mr McDonald says. "This is set to be reflected in our pricing, and we would estimate that the cost of an insurance premium for this vehicle will up to 20 per cent cheaper than it would be if it didn't have the technology.''

Subaru's Eyesight system uses a pair of cameras mounted at the top of the windscreen. It judges the distance to an object ahead and will stop the car if contact is imminent. It does this without any driver intervention.

Eyesight's forward vision also warns when the car is straying from the lanes or to the road shoulder and monitors driver fatigue. Subaru Australia spokesman David Rowley says the Eyesight technology will soon flow down to less-expensive Subaru models.

Volvo's City Safety has been available since 2009. While the Subaru uses cameras, the Volvo uses laser scanners. It will be upgraded to a 50km/h minimum in the near future. City Safety is standard in Volvo S60, V60, V70 , S80, XC60 and XC70 models and in the new V40 hatchback here early in 2013.

The new Mercedes-Benz B-Class model is fitted with a system that judges an imminent collision by preparing the brakes but, unlike the Subaru and Volvo system, will not bring the car to a standstill unless optioned with the Distronic function.