Back in April, the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) officially finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard – FMVSS No. 127 – that will make automatic emergency braking (AEB) required on all passenger cars and light trucks (U.S. light vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less) by September 2029. The agency expects that this rule will result in a significant reduction in rear-end and pedestrian crashes, saving at least 360 lives a year and preventing a minimum of 24,000 injuries annually.
However, the Ford backed lobby group known as the Alliance for Automotive Innovation recently asked the NHTSA to reconsider that decision, though it didn’t take long for the agency to effectively deny that request. As Ford Authority reported yesterday, the NHTSA finalized changes to its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) five-star safety ratings program to accommodate advances in vehicle technology, including lane keeping assist, automatic emergency braking, blind sport warning, and blind spot detection systems. As one might expect, the AAI isn’t a fan of its rejected request, either.
“What a waste. A 10-year partnership with policymakers that put this lifesaving automotive technology in almost all new vehicles was just tossed aside,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “Wrong on the merits. Wrong on the science. Really a disastrous decision by the nation’s top traffic safety regulator that will endlessly – and unnecessarily – frustrate drivers; will make vehicles more expensive; and at the end of the day…won’t really improve driver or pedestrian safety.”
Aside from pointing to the fact that most automakers – including Ford – voluntarily agreed to add AEB to their lineups years ago, AAI notes that “the final rule mandates technology that is inconsistent with regulations implemented in other parts of the world and likely to result in aggressive and unpredictable braking that will frustrate drivers. After a decade of shared and substantive work on AEB and a billion dollars invested, NHTSA inexplicably changed course and issued a rule that automakers indicated was not feasible with widely used braking technologies. Here’s what I (regrettably) conclude will happen: driving AEB equipped vehicles in the U.S. under NHTSA’s new standard will become unpredictable, erratic and will frustrate or flummox drivers.”
Comment
Typical, barmy law maker’s, in my opinion there are to many safety device’s for people to rely on, make mobile phone’s inoperable when engine is running, get rid of sat nav and make people read maps and road signs and slow vehicle’s down, to much power.