NTSB calls for standard collision avoidance systems

June 25, 2015
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for automakers to include collision avoidance technology as a standard feature on new cars and commercial vehicles.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called for automakers to include collision avoidance technology as a standard feature on new cars and commercial vehicles. According to an NTSB report released in early June, these systems could prevent or mitigate more than 80 percent of rear-end collisions.

The report, Special Investigation Report: The Use of Forward Collision Avoidance Systems to Prevent and Mitigate Rear-End Crashes, is just the most recent call from the agency to reduce rear-end collisions. The NTSB has made 12 similar recommendations in the past 20 years, but progress has been slow.

Currently, only four of the 684 passenger vehicle models in 2014 included automatic braking systems as a standard feature: the Mercedes-Benz G Class 4X4, an SUV; the Subaru Forester and Outback, also SUVs, and the Subaru Legacy, a mid-sized sedan. Collision avoidance systems are generally offered as options on high-end vehicles and bundled with expensive, non-safety-related features.

 “You don’t pay extra for your seatbelt,” said Chairman Christopher A. Hart. “And you shouldn’t have to pay extra for technology that can help prevent a collision altogether.”

The NTSB would like to alerting systems made standard, followed by automatic braking solutions once the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) completes standards for them. Although many collision avoidance technologies are relatively new and developing, Hart added that systems that provide some degree of protection are better than nothing.

“The promise of a next generation of safety improvements has been used too often to justify inaction,” Hart said. "Because there will always be better technologies over the horizon, we must be careful to avoid letting perfection become the enemy of the good."

The NTSB also recommended that NHTSA should develop tests and standards in order to rate the performance of each vehicle’s collision avoidance systems and to incorporate those results into an expanded NCAP 5-star safety rating scale.

The NTSB is also issuing a companion Safety Alert for consumers and commercial fleet owners that urges them to consider vehicles with collision warning and autonomous emergency braking functions.

NHTSA, meanwhile, has come under fire from Congress via an audit conducted by the Transportation Department's inspector general. According to the report, NHTSA is unable to adequately protect consumers from vehicle defects because of gaps in the way the organization collects and assesses reports. A shortage of staffers and a lack of training have hampered efforts to investigate increasingly complex vehicle technology failures. The report was due to be released on June 22, but was leaked to the New York Times and other media outlets.

NHTSA announced new efforts to strengthen its defect investigation workforce in the wake of the GM ignition switch recall. The agency has formed a three-person Safety Systems Team (SSST) of outside experts that will advise NHTSA on the implementation of changes related to safety recalls. NHTSA has also launched an Internal Risk Control Innovations Program to address emerging highway safety risks that "cut across the agency's enforcement, vehicle safety and behavioral safety efforts."

NHTSA has also requested triple funding and double staffing for the Office of Defects Investigation in the administration's 2016 budget.

New York Times/NHTSA Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/20/business/federal-auditor-finds-broad-failures-at-nhtsa.html?_r=0

To view the full NTSB report, visit: http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-studies/Documents/SIR1501.pdf.

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