New evidence concerning fatal crashes of passenger vehicles before and after adding antilock braking systems

Fatal crash rates for passenger cars and vans were compared for the last mo del year before four-wheel antilock brakes were introduced and the first mo del year for which antilock brakes were standard equipment. A prior study, based on fatal crash experience through 1995, reported that vehicle models with antilock brakes were more likely than identical but 1-year-earlier mod els to be involved in crashes fatal to their own occupants, but were less l ikely to be involved in crashes fatal to occupants of other vehicles. Overa ll, there was no significant effect of antilocks on the likelihood of fatal crashes. Similar analyses, based on fatal crash experience during 1996-98, yielded very different results. During 1996-98, vehicles with antilock bra kes were again less likely than earlier models to be involved in crashes fa tal to occupants of other vehicles, but they were no longer overinvolved in crashes fatal to their own occupants. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.