Managing the vehicle level trade-offs between motor vehicle safety performance consequent to the application of new injury control technologies and the potential increasing mass effects consequent to application of those technologies on the one hand, and the needs and desires for increased fuel economy through reduction in vehicle mass on the other hand, is a complex and vexing challenge. Historically, most studies of vehicle safety performance and fuel economy have focused upon the collision injury performance of vehicles as a function of vehicle mass. This study examines the connection from a somewhat different perspective by examining vehicle level attribute data (price, mass, and fuel economy) from both public and commercial sources for changes that register at a make/model level in the model years in which newly emerging safety technologies have been made standard.

The installation of injury mitigation technologies over the period 1998 through 2010 has been studied at the make/model/model year level for base or nearbase model vehicles sold in the United States. The introduction and application of 28 safety technologies has been collected from multiple automotive reporting services (including:​ edmunds.com, Ward’s Automotive, msn.com, iihs.org, and safercar.gov). A census of technology presence has been tabulated by:​ technology, manufacturer, make, model, model year, body style, and technology presence as standard or optional equipment. Corresponding base vehicle price, mass and fuel economy data have also been tabulated using publicly available sources for such vehicle level attribute data. Unique vehicle make/model combinations were paired for model years immediately prior to the installation of a new emerging safety technology and the model year of first standard installation of the particular technology. This also includes models for which a technology was optional and then became standard equipment. Changes in the vehicle level mass, price, and fuel economy were calculated and tabulated for multiple specific technologies and the change results are presented herein.