Auto, road safety groups and insurance companies write in support of NHTSA new AEB rule
A group that includes auto and road safety advocacy organizations and insurance companies has written Congress in support of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s mandate that all vehicles will be equipped with two advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in 2029.
NHTSA’s new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS 127, will require automatic emergency braking (AEB) and pedestrian AEB to come standard by September 2029 on all passenger cars and light trucks weighing up to 10,000 pounds.
By then, AEB must stop and avoid rear-end crashes at up to 62 miles per hour and detect pedestrians in daylight and at night.
The standard will require AEB to engage at up to 90 mph when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.
There are 34 signatures on the July 23 letter to Congress. Among them are the National Coalition for Safer Roads, Families for Safe Streets, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, American Public Health Association, Allstate, American Family Insurance, Amica Mutual Insurance Co., Farmers Insurance, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, NJM Insurance Group, and Selective Insurance as well as groups that represent insurance companies.
“This rule is the most impactful regulation for roadway safety issued by NHTSA in years,” the letter states. “The effectiveness of AEB is indisputable. In fact, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found that these safety systems have the capability to reduce car front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 56%. Moreover, this technology is already available in many vehicles, and the rule provides a lengthy compliance period of five years.”
The letter also includes data from NHTSA reports that found, on average, 116 people were killed every day on roads in the U.S. in 2022, totaling just over 42,500, and 2.38 million people were injured representing a 29% increase in deaths within a decade.
NHTSA believes its rule will significantly reduce rear-end and pedestrian crashes to save at least 360 lives and prevent at least 24,000 injuries each year. NHTSA also says AEB and pedestrian AEB will significantly reduce crash-related property damage and associated costs.
Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) President and CEO John Bozzella wrote Congress in June stating that the right technology doesn’t exist for automakers to meet the speed requirements of the mandate and, even if they could be met, would result in more rear-end collisions. Auto Innovators filed a formal petition asking NHTSA to reconsider its final rule.
“NHTSA’s own data shows only one tested vehicle met the stopping distance requirements in the final rule,” Bozzella wrote. “Instead, we recommended NHTSA adopt a standard already in place in Europe that detects a potential forward collision, provides a driver warning, and automatically engages the braking system to avoid a collision — or mitigate its severity — through the use of existing crashworthiness systems designed to better protect road users.”
Aside from the points made about available technology, Bozzella said
In rebuttal, car safety group and insurance companies stated in its letter that the mandate should be implemented immediately to save lives and mitigate injuries that will occur from preventable crashes.
“We urge NHTSA to deny in its entirety the petition for reconsideration of the final rule recently filed by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation,” the letter states.
For now, any changes to the mandate are up to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and the Biden Administration, which is the result of Congress’ direction to develop new AEB rules under the 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
In 2016, 20 automakers voluntarily committed to making AEB technology standard on virtually all new vehicles by September 2022.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as of December of last year, the automakers — including the Big Three (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis) — had installed AEB on 95% or more of their new light-duty vehicles.
Bozzella said the automakers are on track to have the feature in all new vehicles by 2025.
“This action by Alliance for Automotive Innovation should not be interpreted as blanket opposition to AEB, a lack of confidence in the technology or reduced support for AEB’s widest possible deployment across the U.S. vehicle fleet,” he wrote in June. “It is none of those.” Images
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