The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety – or IIHS – recently provided a progress report on a voluntary initiative between automakers who have committed to making their new vehicles safer.
The IIHS says 20 manufacturers have pledged to outfit 95% or more of their models with automatic emergency braking – or AEB – systems. The goal in mind for this target was years 2022 and 2023, but IIHS has announced that 10 of those manufacturers have achieved their goal well ahead of schedule.
The report says that Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Tesla hit the benchmark last year, and were joined this year by BMW, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen. And several others – Ford, Nissan, and Honda – are close behind, with more than 90% of their vehicles offering AEB.
The voluntary measure was undertaken in 2015 after industry pressure to add these safety measures to lower-cost and lighter vehicles, rather than just luxury or SUV models. According to a report in Forbes, research suggests that “front crash prevention systems with both forward collision warning (FCW) and automatic emergency braking cut rear-end crashes by half.” Both technologies are targeted for inclusion under the pact.
David Friedman, vice president of advocacy for Consumer Reports, urged the NHTSA to push automakers into taking it a step further, saying the agency should build on the “ingenuity and agility” behind the achievements and ensure that “by 2025, all new vehicles come standard with more advanced systems that can also detect pedestrians and work at highway speeds.” Friedman also stressed that the laggards on this AEB target clearly lay out their plans for how they plan to catch up and meet the voluntary standard before the deadline.
