NU Online News Service, April 3, 10:41 a.m. EDT

A study of auto crash injury claims has found that in collisionswhere vehicles had front and side airbag systems, injuries wereless severe and claim costs were lower.

The research by Malvern, Pa.-based Insurance Research Council(IRC) studied claims while tracing automakers' growingincorporation of front and side airbag systems in motorvehicles.

IRC said the findings documented the beneficial impact of thistrend on auto injury insurance claim costs. The study examined thetype of passenger restraint system found in insured vehicles in asample of 2007 closed auto injury insurance claims and looked atdifferences in the extent of injuries and subsequent claimpayments.

More than 14,000 first-party auto injury insurance claims onvehicles with valid vehicle identification numbers were examined.The data used came from 22 insurers, representing 57 percent of theprivate passenger auto insurance market, IRC said.

The report found a rapid transition from seatbelts-only vehiclesto front and side airbag systems as model years advanced within thesample of vehicles involved in 2007 personal injury protection(PIP) claims.

Among vehicles from model year 1990, 80 percent had seatbeltsbut no airbags, and 20 percent had front airbags. Among 1998 modelyear vehicles, all vehicles were equipped with airbags--89 percenthad front airbags only and 11 percent also included side airbags.Among vehicles from model year 2007, 82 percent had front and sideairbags.

The presence of front and side airbag systems was associatedwith less significant injuries and lower claim costs, the studyfound.

Claimants injured in vehicles with front and side airbags wereless likely than those in vehicles with seatbelts only or seatbeltsand front airbags only to have serious injuries, to receivehospital treatment, or to experience a period of disability orfatality, the report said.

As a result, airbag systems were associated with markedly lowerinjury claim costs. The average PIP payment for claims fromvehicles with seatbelts but without airbags was $6,994, 32 percenthigher than the $5,308 average for vehicles with front airbags and57 percent higher than the $4,457 average for vehicle with bothfront and side airbags, IRC found.

Elizabeth Sprinkel, IRC senior vice president, said, "Motorvehicles are becoming safer, and these improvements are having anoticeable impact on the seriousness of injuries and the ultimatecost of auto injury claims.

"These favorable trends have helped offset some of the pressurecaused by the accelerating cost of medical treatment for autoinjuries," she concluded.

The report, "Vehicle Characteristics and Auto Injury Claims," isbased on vehicles with valid vehicle identification numbers. VINanalysis was provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety(IIHS).