NTSB Urges U.S. To Mandate Advanced Braking

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On June 8, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) urged auto safety regulators and automakers to do more to spur the introduction of forward collision-avoidance systems to keep cars from running into those in front of them.

Since 2012, the NTSB has asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate new safety technologies in all vehicles, which could dramatically reduce the number fatalities caused by driver distractions. But the auto safety agency hasn’t agreed to do so.

"You don’t pay extra for your seat belt," NTSB Chairman Christopher A. Hart said on Monday. "And you shouldn’t have to pay extra for technology that can help prevent a collision altogether." He called the board’s report released Monday a "wake-up" and urged automakers and NHTSA to work together to speed adoption. Hart noted that just four out of 684 passenger vehicle models in 2014 included a complete forward collision-avoidance system as a standard feature. It is primarily on more expensive vehicles.

The sensor-based technology can detect a forward crash with another vehicle or pedestrian before it occurs, by alerting the driver to take corrective action or automatically applying brakes. The NTSB first started calling for the development of vehicle technologies to help avoid crashes in the mid-1990s.

In January, NHTSA said it would add two automatic emergency braking systems to recommended safety features as part of its five-star New Car Assessment Program: crash-imminent braking which automatically applies brakes as necessary; and dynamic brake support, which increases braking to its maximum in an emergency. But it declined to propose mandating the technology.

NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge said the agency welcomes the safety board’s input. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind is a former NTSB board member. 

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