Alliance for Automotive Innovation today released the following statement after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) effectively denied the association’s petition for reconsideration of the agency’s final automatic emergency braking (AEB) rule.
John Bozzella, president and CEO of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, saiid:
“What a waste. A 10-year partnership with policymakers that put this lifesaving automotive technology in almost all new vehicles was just tossed aside.
“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.”
Automatic emergency braking (AEB):
AEB is a game-changing safety technology developed by automakers to detect the possibility of collisions with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. AEB provides a warning to a driver and then automatically engages the braking system to bring the vehicle to a safe stop.
In 2016, automakers voluntarily committed to install AEB in all new vehicles by 2025 and have already met that commitment. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported in December 2023 that it “… expects this voluntary commitment to prevent 42,000 crashes and 20,000 injuries by 2025.”
Excerpt from Letter to President Trump (November 12, 2024)
“Rather than leverage a voluntary commitment automakers made to NHTSA in 2016 to deploy AEB technology, 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.
“Alliance for Automotive Innovation urges your administration to re-open the AEB rule and to foster a collaborative and solutions-oriented approach to roadway safety.”
Excerpt from AEB Letter to Congress (June 24, 2024)
“… 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.”
