In-Vehicle Safety Features and Their Impacts on Fatal Crashes

One of the most important safety metrics in transportation engineering is fatal crashes, and a major effect to improve safety is to reduce fatal crashes. Therefore, safety features are continuously tested and equipped in vehicles to reduce fatal crashes and provide safety to road users. This study was initiated to explore the relationship between two in-vehicle safety features and their impact on fatal crashes. These two in-vehicle safety features are the Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS) and the Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS). This thesis analyzed nine different General Motors (GM) vehicles’ make, model, and year to test which in-vehicle safety feature reduced fatal crashes. To test the LKAS safety feature, run-off-road fatal crashes were analyzed using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data for the Chevrolet Silverado, the Chevrolet Equinox, the GMC Yukon, the GMC Sierra, and the Cadillac Escalade model vehicles. To test the FCWS safety feature, rear-end fatal crashes were analyzed using FARS data for the Chevrolet Equinox, the Chevrolet Traverse, the Buick Enclave, the GMC Acadia, and the GMC Terrain. The odds ratios for the LKAS safety feature for the Chevrolet Silverado, the Chevrolet Equinox, the GMC Sierra, the GMC Yukon, and the Cadillac Escalade model vehicles were 0.704, 0.615, 0.601, 0.446, and 1.149, respectively. The odds ratio showed, when examining the LKAS safety feature for the Chevrolet Silverado, the Chevrolet Equinox, the GMC Yukon, the GMC Sierra, and the Cadillac Escalade model vehicles, that four of the five vehicle models examined resulted in reductions in run-off-road fatal crashes; the GMC Yukon was not statistically significant in reducing this type of crashes. Additionally, the odds ratios for the FCWS safety feature for the Chevrolet Equinox, the GMC Terrain, the Chevrolet Traverse, the GMC Acadia, and the Buick Enclave model vehicles were 0.814, 0.199, 0.873, 0.638, and 0.143, respectively. The odds ratio showed, when examining the FCWS safety feature for the ...