Motorists in Connecticut and throughout the country face the risk of a being struck by the car traveling behind their vehicle, even when these motorists are idling or stopped. To help address this, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced on Sept. 11 that 10 major vehicle manufactures in the United States will install automatic emergency braking as a standard feature on all new vehicles that will be manufactured in this country.
These emergency braking devices include systems designed to prevent rear-end collisions and other types of car accidents where drivers do not use the brakes or apply them with ample power to stop or mitigate an accident. These systems go beyond protecting occupants when accidents occur because AED Systems are designed to prevent the accidents.
AEB Systems utilize radar, cameras, lasers and other on-board systems to detect a car accident which is imminent, warn the driver and apply the brakes when the river does not sufficiently react. These systems compensate for driver error because they are always monitoring the road of the vehicle. A recent IIHS report and several studies indicate that AEB technology can reduce insurance injury claims by up to 35 percent.
The ten manufacturers will work with the NHTSA and IIHS in the next few months on the timeline for installing AEB as a standard feature. These manufacturers accounted for 57 percent of all national light-vehicle sales in 2014.
These agencies are also encouraging light-vehicle and trucking manufacturers to install this technology. In May, the NHTSA also announced steps to speed up the development of other advanced technologies such as vehicle-to-vehicle communications and autonomous driving.
Drivers and vehicle occupants will continue to face serious injury and other losses by reckless or negligent motorists in these accidents until this technology is fully implemented and in other crashes. Victims of these accidents should seek prompt legal assistance to help assure that they can determine liability and seek compensation in a lawsuit.
Source: National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, “DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment from 10 automakers to include automatic emergency braking on all new vehicles,” Accessed on Sept. 11, 2015
