Car crashes: perceived vulnerability and willingness to pay for crash protection.

A national random sample of 1,017 new-car buyers was surveyed. The respondents indicated a clear preference for more, automatic crash protection rather than for protection that must be activated by those to be protected. Respondents were willing to add an average of $12 to their monthly car payments, if the added cost would save 6,000 lives a year--three times the amount that the currently available technology would actually cost to save 8,800 lives per year. Buyer preferences for crash protection and their willingness to pay were unrelated to their feelings of personal vulnerability to death or injury in car crashes.