Cars are safer than ever. There are whole hosts of systems onboard with the goal of keeping drivers and passengers safe. This tech is great at keeping you out of harms way, but it might come back and bite you should any of it need repairing.
According to AAA, all of the safety tech in our newest cars can easily raise the cost of repairs. What was a minor fender bender in the past now requires repair, replacement, and calibration of a myriad of safety tech parts. There are sensors, cameras, wiring, and much more involved with these many systems, and they live all over your car.
In the front of a car with modern safety tech, for example, there are radar sensors for emergency braking and adaptive cruise control. This can cost between $900 and $1,300 to repair should the components be damaged in an accident. Perhaps your car has ultrasonic sensors for parking assistance? Repairing those will cost you between $500 and $1,300. Out back, your car might have a blind spot monitoring system or rear cross traffic alert and this will cost you between $850 and $2,050 to have repaired.
There are many other systems at play as well, and each has a number of parts that need to be replaced in the event of an accident. Not only do you have to make sure the replacement parts are properly installed, but a number of these systems need to be calibrated by a trained technician. That's more time and money.
Now, we don't want it to sound like we're piling on against these safety systems. This is all great tech that can keep you and your family safe inside your vehicle. But it's also wise to be prepared and aware that even a minor accident could prove quite expensive if safety systems are damaged as a result.
