The relationship between automobile insurance and the safety quality of automobiles is reviewed. Application of the automobile safety characteristic of crashworthiness to the auto insurance process, operating under both fault (tort liability) and no-fault conditions is presented, including the effect of the characteristics on ratemaking. Other data from various sources, e.g. manufacturers, government sponsored efforts such as the National Accident Sampling System (NASS), and internal insurance industry sources, are examined.
The current status and potential benefit for extending the data collection is discussed. As an example, data from crash tests, insurance companies and case studies involving Volkswagen Rabbit automobiles equipped with both automatic and manual seat belts is reviewed and evaluated.
The limitations, benefits, and costs of developing data are discussed together with the potential for incorporation of other data (e.g. from NASS).