{"id":13637,"date":"2022-05-01T16:50:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=13637"},"modified":"2022-05-01T16:50:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:50:56","slug":"fleet-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2022\/05\/01\/fleet-45\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Your Fleet Safer Without Purchasing New Vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s low truck inventory and high prices make it difficult to upgrade fleets, but aftermarket products can equip aging vehicles with new safety technology. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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One in five truck drivers will be involved in an accident in any given year, potentially punching a painful hole in fleet budgets. One analysis indicates that fleets can expect to pay an average of $120,000 for non-fatal crashes involving large trucks and $382,000 for incidents involving tractor-trailers. The price tag soars in the event of a fatality, with the average verdict for a truck crash lawsuit skyrocketing from $2.3 million to $22.3 million from 2010 to 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

While truck manufacturers have begun implementing safety features such as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and lane-keeping functions to help reduce accident risk, these advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technologies are available as OEM packages only on newer trucks. Fleets with older vehicles must upgrade in order to gain the benefits, but today most vehicle purchases are on hold because of two roadblocks caused largely by the ripple effects of the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first hurdle is that new and even used vehicles are so scarce because of the global chip shortage that it\u2019s difficult to find anything to buy. (Some trucking firms are even turning to junkyards to find used truck cabs, trailers and truck parts they can harvest to replace aging engines and other components just to keep their fleets running.) The second snag is that prices are at record highs as more buyers compete for fewer vehicles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buyer Blues <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there\u2019s no end in sight to either the low inventory or the sticker shock. <\/a>In early March, for example, Ford again cut production of medium-duty trucks, chassis cabs and other trucks and SUVs at plants in Kentucky and Ohio because of limited availability of semiconductors. The war in Ukraine threatens to exacerbate the problem because that country produces 70% of the neon gas supply needed to run the lasers used in chip manufacturing.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the price front, dealer markups for new vehicles are so prevalent \u2013 including a $30,000 markup over the MSRP for Ford\u2019s electric F-150 truck reported earlier this year \u2013 that Ford and GM have both threatened to reduce allocations to offending dealers. Meanwhile, used vehicle prices climbed an average of 35% from February 2021 to February 2022. That includes an 85% jump for used Class 8 trucks during the same time period, according to ACT Research.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aftermarket ADAS and DSM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In the face of these obstacles to refreshing fleet inventory as well as for fleets with older vehicles in good working order but lacking newer technology, one solution for increasing safety is to equip existing vehicles with aftermarket ADAS and\/or DSM (Driver State Monitoring)-enabled video telematics systems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically using a combination of dashcam video, GPS location information, machine vision and artificial intelligence, these products can detect imminent collision risks in real time and send audible in-cab alerts that prompt drivers to take preventive action with functions such as:<\/span><\/p>\n