(July 19, 2011) ROCKLEIGH, N.J.  — A newly published analysis from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicates that Volvo XC60s get into fewer low-speed crashes than comparable vehicles thanks to Volvo's City Safety technology, a standard feature on all XC60s.

HLDI examined claim frequency under property damage liability, bodily injury liability and collisions. Their data concluded frequency rates for the XC60 were lower than all other midsize luxury SUVs, specifically:

• Claims under property damage liability coverage were filed 27 percent less often for the XC60 than other midsize luxury SUVs.
• Claim frequencies for injuries for the XC60 were filed about half as often compared to other midsize luxury SUVs.
• Collision claim frequencies for the XC60 were 22 percent lower than all other midsize luxury SUVs.

"This is our first real-world look at an advanced crash avoidance technology, and the findings are encouraging," said Adrian Lund, president of HLDI and IIHS. "City Safety is helping XC60 drivers avoid the kinds of front-to-rear low speed crashes that frequently happen on congested roads."

IIHS last year estimated that current crash avoidance features have the potential to prevent or mitigate as many as 1.9 million crashes each year, and current users have stated the systems help them to be safer drivers.

"It is great to see validation from HLDI and IIHS of the safety systems that we at Volvo are continually developing," said Thomas Broberg, Volvo Car Corp.'s senior safety expert. "This is another step towards achieving our Vision 2020 of eliminating serious injuries and fatalities by the year 2020, and an even larger step towards a crash-free future."

HLDI also looked at how the crash reductions for the XC60 affected overall insurance costs:

• Overall payouts under property damage liability for XC60s were 20 percent lower than losses for all other midsize luxury SUVs.
• Estimated overall collision losses for the XC60 were 31 percent lower than all other midsize luxury SUVs.

"The lower claim frequencies found by HLDI prove that City Safety is preventing crashes and thus reducing insurance costs," said John Maloney, VCNA's vice president of marketing and product planning. "There's an opportunity here for insurance companies to begin offering a discount on vehicles equipped with City Safety or similar crash-avoidance technologies."

HLDI analysts compared insurance claims data for the 2010 model XC60 with two control groups: other 2009-10 midsize luxury SUVs and other 2009-10 Volvo models. The analysis controlled for a variety of geographic and demographic factors that can affect claims. Geographic factors include garaging state and vehicle density (the number of registered vehicles per square mile).

Demographic factors take into account such things as the primary driver's age, gender and marital status. Other factors include calendar year plus the policy deductible.