Kia America will be providing vehicle build data to insurers through an agreement with LexisNexis, the analytics provider has announced. The arrangement will potentially allow owners to take advantage of their vehicles’ advanced driver assistance systems when they look for insurance.
The agreement underscores the growing acknowledgement among insurers yet others that ADAS technology aids in preventing collisions, a trend that could reduce business for repairers as such technology becomes more widespread.
The platform, LexisNexis Vehicle Build, provides normalized data about ADAS features in specific Kia vehicles to be able to help insurers in insurance rating and underwriting. This degree of detailed information is not ordinarily conveyed via a manufacturer’s vehicle identification number , but is roofed in factory build data.
Because there is no standard for ADAS technology, with various manufacturers using their own proprietary names for similar features, LexisNexis “normalizes and standardizes” the features for underwriters’ use.
LexisNexis gives “normalized name and definition” for each ADAS feature in its database, which may be used in conjunction with the company’s standardized return. In addition, it uses a classification system to refer to groupings of features that are common across automobile manufacturers.
Like most manufacturers, Kia provides a variety of ADAS features as standard or optional equipment on a model-by-model basis. For instance, around the base Kia Rio subcompact, the manufacturer’s lowest-priced model in 2022, all the ADAS features, labeled Drive Wise by Kia, were extra-cost options.
In contrast, around the 2022 Kia Carnival, a full-sized SUV, no less than 21 ADAS systems are listed. Of these, only eight are included as standard equipment on all trim levels; the rest are available only on particular models.
“With newfound underwriting data available through LexisNexis Vehicle Build, guesswork involving a vehicle’s ADAS features has become anything of history, and that we look forward to continuing to bridge the automotive and insurance markets so consumers can look for auto insurance inside a new and empowering way,” Adam Hudson, v . p . and general manager, U.S. Connected Car, at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said inside a statement.
On its website, LexisNexis said that Vehicle Build offers insurers the next benefits:
- Better understand LexisNexis meaning of a ADAS feature, the purpose of the feature, and just how it may impact driving safety.
- Save time with the ease of single-source access and standardized, normalized data, no matter automaker or model.
- Help enhance underwriting and improve the customer experience through more effective and informed decision-making.
- Integrates seamlessly with LexisNexis Auto Data Prefill
LexisNexis’ announcement does not offer any detail about the impact on losses that each ADAS feature may be expected to have. Instead, it offers copies of its proprietary classification system to those carriers that are looking to include ADAS data into their rating algorithms.
Vehicles designed with ADAS have been linked to reduced accidents. In June, Ford assuring Farm announced the results of the yearlong study based on vehicles’ build data. That study discovered that the presence of advanced driver assistance systems lowered the insurer’s risk.
That analysis of build data demonstrated that the ADAS features installed on some Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles dating back 2010 were effective enough to justify lower rates for his or her owners.
“We're finding solutions for the future by grounding all things in data, research and insights,” State Farm V . p . of Operations Craig Isaacs said at the time. “What’s unique relating to this project is we’re not only exploring the brand name of the vehicle, but ultimately to the individual security features on each vehicle.”
In the results of the study announced in April 2022, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that model year 2013-17 BMW automobiles were not as likely to become involved with crashes when they were designed with certain kinds of ADAS.
The IIHS analysis of insurance claims data found that the combination of improvements in-front crash prevention and the inclusion of adaptive cruise control reduced the frequency of property damage liability and bodily injury liability claims. Lane centering, however, seemed to haven't much impact on claims.
In the study, Highway Loss Data Institute analysts checked out claims data related to four different BMW crash avoidance packages. One combined forward collision warning and lane departure warning; the second added front automatic emergency braking; the 3rd added adaptive cruise control; and also the fourth included all those features as well as lane centering and front cross-traffic alert.
For each package, HLDI examined the collision, damage to property liability and bodily injury liability claims per insured vehicle year. Three of the four packages were associated with reductions in claim rates underneath the three coverages.
Package two, the combination of forward collision warning, lane departure warning and AEB, reduced the regularity of collision claims by 5%, property damage claims by 11%, and bodily injury claims by 16%
Package three, which added adaptive cruise control to the mix, cut collision, property damage and bodily injury claim rates by 6%, 27% and 37%, respectively. For this package, the reduction in collision claim frequency wasn't considered statistically significant.
The results of package four on claims were not statistically not the same as those of package three.
IIHS said BMW provided a good opportunity for such a study, since several of their vehicles were designed with each of the four different packages.
“The crash claim frequency reductions in price for BMW’s Driving Assistance package are the largest we’ve seen from advanced driver assistance systems, which implies crash avoidance might be delivering bigger benefits as the technologies improve,” says Matt Moore, senior vice president of HLDI, said in an April 16, 2022 announcement on the IIHS website.
In an undated article for Youtalk-insurance.com, Carla McDonald of LexisNexis Risk Solutions alluded towards the company’s operate in Europe to determine the dollars-and-cents effect that various types of ADAS technology have.
“Starting with ADAS, insurance firms need to comprehend the outcome of those valuable and efficient systems on claims frequency to assist calculate pricing,” McDonald wrote. “However, deciphering the precise specification on a new vehicle is very complex with a variety of standard and optional features that will include ADAS.”
After creating a classification system of these security features, the next step was “testing and learning how ADAS fitments relate to insurance claims,” she wrote. The result of that work, involving more than 2.5 million vehicles in four European countries, is now open to European customers, she said.
“Ultimately customers may have the most to achieve if you are paying insurance in line with the exact features on their car and just how they drive it, which in turn might help reduce price of ownership making all our roads safer,” McDonald concluded.
