A recent insurance industry study in Sweden found that Volvo’s City Safety auto-braking collision avoidance system reduces rear-end crash claims by 28 percent.

The study analyzed claims data from Swedish insurers If and Volvia.

City Safety can reduce the incidence of whiplash and other neck injuries caused by low-speed traffic accidents. Additionally, the safety feature can reduce vehicle collision damage and collision repair costs.

Volvo Cars launched its first collision avoidance technology in 2006. City Safety was introduced as standard in all new Volvo car models in 2008.

“Since then we’ve been monitoring the performance of our collision avoidance systems in Volvo Cars throughout Sweden, where we have a 20 percent market share,” said Magdalena Lindman, Volvo Cars’ technical expert for traffic safety data analysis. “This is a very strong statistical sample to base findings on, as every fifth car on the road in Sweden is a Volvo.”

The study focused on Volvo cars equipped with the first two generations of City Safety. The first generation worked at speeds up to 18.6 mph (30 km/h). The second generation increased that to 31 mph (50 km/h) in 2013.

In 2015, Volvo further updated City Safety for the XC90. In this vehicle model, the safety system can operate at all speeds.

“We see our continuous development of collision avoidance and steering assist systems as stepping stones towards autonomous cars,” Lindman said.