New test results from the American Automobile Association (AAA), a non-profit federation of affiliated motor clubs in the USA and Canada, have revealed a significant performance variation in AEB systems.
All the systems tested by AAA are designed to apply the brakes when a driver fails to engage; however, those that are designed to prevent crashes reduced vehicle speeds by nearly twice that of those designed to lessen crash severity.
While any reduction in speed offers a significant safety benefit to drivers, AAA warns that automatic braking systems are not all designed to prevent collisions and urges consumers to fully understand system limitations before getting behind the wheel.
“AAA found that two-thirds of Americans familiar with the technology believe that automatic emergency braking systems are designed to avoid crashes without driver intervention,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s MD of automotive engineering and repair.
“The reality is that today’s systems vary greatly in performance, and many are not designed to stop a moving car.”
In partnership with the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center, AAA evaluated five 2016 model-year vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking systems for performance within system limitations and in real-world driving scenarios that were designed to push the technology’s limits. Systems were compared based on the capabilities and limitations stated in the owner’s manuals and grouped into two categories — those designed to slow or stop the vehicle enough to prevent a crash, and those designed to slow the vehicle to lessen crash severity. More than 70 trials and tests were conducted.
August 30, 2016
