NHTSA adds self-braking to NCAP

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that it is adding two new automatic emergency braking systems to its New Car Assessment Program. The move follows a similar initiative by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Going forward, the NHTSA will include crash imminent braking (CIB) and dynamic brake support (DBS) automatic emergency braking systems in its list of list of recommended safety technologies. The NHTSA defines CIB as a system that is capable of stopping a vehicle autonomously while DBS refers to a system that provides supplemental braking power if the vehicle’s sensors detect an imminent crash.

“Today marks an enormous leap in the evolution of auto safety by encouraging adoption of new technologies to keep drivers and their passengers safe on our roads,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “I want this Department, the entire automotive industry, and other innovators to keep raising the bar on safety like we are doing now.”

Already available on a number of vehicles sold today, the NHTSA believes that the widespread adoption of automatic emergency braking systems, or AEB for short, could prevent thousands of traffic accidents per year. According to the administration’s data, more than 30 percent of all crashes in 2013 involved a rear-end collision that might have been prevented by an AEB system.

AEBs will not have an impact on a vehicle’s star rating.

In 2013 the IIHS added an autonomous braking test to its crashworthiness evaluations. Unlike the NHTSA’s rating system, a vehicle must pass the IIHS’ automatic braking crash test to be considered for the firm’s top safety ranking.