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Automatic Emergency Braking Has Cut Rear-End Crashes In Half

Back in 2016, automakers voluntarily pledged to offer automatic emergency braking in all new vehicles by 2025, and have indeed met that goal. This particular type of technology has improved over the years as well, proving to be quite effective when it comes to cutting down on what used to be rather common rear-end collisions. Now, a new study is shedding some additional light on just how effective automatic emergency braking really is, too.

A photo showing the exterior of the 2025 Ford Explorer from a rear three quarters angle.

This study comes to us from Mitre, which took a close look at 2015-2023 model year vehicles to see how the technology has evolved over time, as well as what sort of impact it has had on reducing rear-end crashes. The study involved data from 98 million vehicles and 21.2 million crashes in the U.S., and found that compared to the same study conducted back in 2022, AEB has cut rear-end crashes by 52 percent, compared to 46 percent a few years ago. In total, the presence of AEB reduced front-to-rear crashes by 49 percent compared to vehicles that don’t have that particular feature.

Additionally, vehicles equipped with AEB posted a nine percent reduction in single-vehicle frontal crashes with non-motorists, including pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, and wheelchairs. This is particularly notable given the fact that non-motorist crashes tend to be more deadly than ones involving multiple vehicles, Among the 168 different models examined for this test, Ford was represented by virtually every model in its current lineup, as well as several that have been discontinued in recent years.

This is encouraging news for automatic emergency braking technology, as another recent study found that partial autonomy doesn’t have any sort of positive impact in regard to reducing crashes. Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) officially finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard that will make automatic emergency braking required as standard equipment on all passenger cars and light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less by September 2029, but following pushback from a Ford-backed lobby group and several automakers, the Trump administration recently put that rule on hold.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

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Comments

  1. And Trump just issued a regulatory freeze that would pause the NHTSA rule that would require this wonderful and effective safety measure. Way to go Donald.

    Reply
  2. “..make automatic emergency braking required as standard equipment on all passenger cars and light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less by September 2029”. So heavier vehicles will not need automatic braking? Don’t drive ahead of heavy vehicles! Let them pass!

    Reply

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