Car Buyers Expect Apple and Google to Improve Car Safety More than Volvo

LONDON--May 8, 2013:

A survey carried out by car safety review site, CarSafetyRules .com , has revealed that consumer confidence is higher in Apple and Google than in vehicle brands when it comes to innovation in car safety. The survey found that although people perceive smart phone use as a hazard for drivers and pedestrians, they expect Silicon Valley companies to contribute the most to improving road safety in the future.

The UK survey asked 1,000 people who had bought a brand new car in the last three years about their attitudes to safety, technology and brands. Just over 21% named Apple as the brand most likely to develop the technologies that will improve road safety the most, with 19.8% placing their faith in Google. Volvo, long considered the most progressive in terms of safety technologies, narrowly came third with 19.7%. Apple proved most popular with women, while men generally favoured Google and Volvo.

Apple and Google are among the companies involved in developing technologies for autonomous, driver-less vehicles; Google's vision for self-driving cars also includes providing connectivity between cars to improve road safety. However, apps to help cars warn each other automatically of dangers ranked only fifth in a list of the most desired car safety technologies in the survey, while an auto-pilot system ranked sixth.

The majority of people chose crash prevention braking and pre-crash alerts as the most attractive car safety technologies to fit. These are already offered by many car manufacturers on new models.

Editor of CarSafetyRules.com, Tristan Honeywill, commissioned the survey: "Consumers expect future cars to be more intelligent and to offer more electronic support to improve safety, but they mainly see brands like Google and Apple delivering these kinds of advances."

To find out more about car safety technologies, visit: CarSafetyRules .