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Black Box Analysis Technologies Announced for Auto Insurance Claims

27 September 2000

Black Box Analysis Technologies Announced for Auto Insurance Claims

    SAN ANTONIO--Sept. 26, 2000--Injury Sciences LLC announced today that it has reached an agreement to integrate Vetronix Corporation's Crash Data Retrieval System with their own WrExpert(tm) accident and injury analysis software.
    As a result of this agreement, a comprehensive, scientific analysis of auto insurance claims can be performed using information from a vehicle's "black box" and information typically found in an auto insurance claim file.
    With the Vetronix CDR System, crash data can be downloaded to a PC from a vehicle's airbag sensing and diagnostic module, or "black box." The CDR System interprets relevant portions of the information using proprietary decoding algorithms. The CDR System is able to capture and report such information as vehicle speed, engine RPM, throttle and braking data from a growing population of vehicles. Additionally, for some airbag modules, the CDR System reports impact severity and seatbelt usage.
    "The CDR system has been designed to provide a simple and straightforward way to access information stored on the vehicle's airbag module," says Jim Zaleski, President of Vetronix Corporation. "Once you have a clear understanding of what happened to one vehicle involved in an accident from our CDR System information, WrExpert can give you insight into what happened to the other vehicle and its occupants."
    "We have invested significant effort to expand WrExpert's capabilities to provide our users engineering and scientific insight into a wider variety of collision-related automotive property damage and injury claims," states Scott Palmer, President and CEO of Injury Sciences. "The ability to analyze crash data from the vehicle itself extends our expanded capabilities and represents a new frontier in the evaluation of automotive insurance claims."
    WrExpert is a PC-based (stand-alone or server-based) system that evaluates the severity of specific auto collisions and other accident characteristics by analyzing damage repair estimate information and damage profiles of vehicles involved in a collision. WrExpert also assesses the potential for specific injuries for those accidents identified as minor collisions. WrExpert includes a fully illustrated reference library that provides information about accident events, human anatomy, injury causes and treatments for specific injuries.
    Palmer notes, "By applying engineering and scientific analysis methods to damage repair estimate information and vehicle damage profiles, WrExpert can provide objective insight into the following questions: What was the traveling speed of a vehicle prior to impact? What was the point of impact? What was the angle of impact? What was the severity of the impact? And, what injuries, if any, should be expected?
    "The Vetronix CDR data can provide additional insights to these questions as well as provide clarity to questions related to pre-collision braking activities and distances prior to impact."
    "This combination of technology has the potential to change how insurance claims will be handled in the future," states Jim Schallert, President and CEO of Western United Insurance.
    Schallert adds, "This enables the car itself to provide factual information on a broader scope of issues important to the evaluation of accidents."
    Schallert has been recognized as a technology leader in the industry, being mentioned as one of the most tech-savvy CEOs in the industry in the September '98 issue of Insurance & Technology.
    Schallert further notes, "This technology package should better help our company protect our insureds against fraudulent accident and injury claims. Additionally, it opens the opportunity for a wide array of possible incentives which can reduce the cost of insurance to the consumer."
    "Without the cost prohibitive step of retrofitting vehicles with special measurement equipment, information very useful to the claim evaluation process can be cost effectively harvested," states Stephen Salamon, Vice President of Atlantic Mutual's Claims Services Division.
    Salamon adds, "Coupled with a tool like WrExpert, claims professionals will be better equipped to evaluate conflicting stories regarding an accident or related injuries and determine what facts and circumstances are objectively supported by the vehicle 'black box' data, physical damage to the automobiles and the laws of physics. These capabilities will help us identify claims that have comparative/contributory negligence issues as well as fight fraud."
    Both Schallert and Salamon agree that the key area of opportunity is to work with insureds and harvest, when so authorized, the black box data. Armed with this data, WrExpert provides its users a greater understanding of what happened in the accident and how severe the collision was to the other vehicle and its occupants. Schallert and Salamon also agree that the ability to apply engineering and scientific analysis to new and existing data streams make the claim evaluation process more objective.
    "We are excited to work with such a quality organization," states Palmer about Vetronix. "Their history of developing diagnostic tools that communicate with onboard vehicle systems is quite impressive," he adds.
    "We too are enthusiastic about the opportunity to work with the people at Injury Sciences," notes Zaleski. "They have developed a unique software tool which complements our CDR System and provides an easy, cost effective way to scientifically evaluate automotive accidents."