Whether you like it or not, by 2022 automatic emergency braking will be standard in the U.S. domestic market. This isn’t just a one-sided affair, either: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and just about every auto maker currently in the domestic market have agreed to make this work, with the goal of preventing, according to NHTSA numbers, 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries annually. The planned rollout will happen in two waves: Vehicles with a GVW below 8,500 pounds will need to be standard equipment by September 1, 2022, with vehicles with a GVW over 8,500 pounds getting an additional three years to come into compliance.
Just how many manufacturers signed up for this deal? Here’s the rundown: GM, Ford, FCA, BMW, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mazda, Jaguar/Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Nissan, Volvo, VW, Tesla and Toyota, and any and all respective brands under the major nameplates. Naturally, the safety pundits are satisfied, with Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx proclaiming in an official statement, “It’s a win for safety and a win for consumers.”
I’m not so sure about that last part, personally. I can appreciate reducing the numbers of injuries and accidents, really, I do. But technology that seeks to reduce the skill needed to operate a motor vehicle is a bit concerning. Anti-lock brakes make sense. Giving someone a reason to not pay attention, simply because the car will save their hide through technology, is another can of worms altogether. What do you think…is this really a win for consumers on the whole, or is this a win for lazy drivers?
(Courtesy: Autoblog)
No. Learn to pay attention and learn to drive. We aren’t building idiot-proof cars, we’re just building better idiots.
This tech better not make it impossible to autocross them. I know that the early Lexus’ with this tech would jam on the brakes when they saw the cone in front of you.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Darwinism should have taken most of these idiots out of the food chain long ago. Unfortunately the safer we make cars, the more ignorant genes we keep in the pool. Now I’m not saying everybody’s life who has been saved by an airbag is dumb, but if you need a vehicle to do your own braking, parallel parking, slowing you down if your following too close, you seriously need to take a step back and question how you made it this far in life.
By the way, when did crashing your parents car become a teens “right of passage”? Just an observation.
How many of those cars with the new stopping technology are going to be hit from behind because their cars suddenly slam on the brakes because their not paying attention. And the car behind them doesn’t have the same technology.
I’m torn – after all, rear-ending another person is considered rude and will kill the children.
Oh wait, I don’t care about children – I do care that this is the death of manual transmissions…
Judging by the people around me every morning on LA freeways nobody is driving there cars anymore anyway. They are texting, browsing, emailing, talking, doing make up and generally letting the car drive itself. So this is where we are now.
I’ll keep driving my old heaps that you actually have to drive or they won’t move.
We’ve raised a bunch of morons.
Oh sorry, was that my outside voice?
Kind of reminds me of what race cars are becoming starting with F1.
Spot-on, Marc.
One more proggie step toward making it manditory to buy a self driving car and crush everything the benevolent government does not approve of. We may all be in chains but at least we get to goose what color our chains will be.
“In a democracy, you vote and then get told what to do. In a dictatorship, you don’t waste your time voting.”
We gotta admit it will reduce accidents these morons cause on a regular basis. Insurance co’s are gonna love this, reduce claims for rearenders, but keep our rates the same. I see it also, how some get there license is beyond me. 3 lane freeway moving at 65+ with some jackwipe doing 55 (in the left lane) to focus on their phone.
Remember when the Feds decided to mandate air bags? If not, let me remind you that the technology wasn’t really ready for the public. Countless people, including my sister, were injured by the very thing that was supposed to protect them.
Kind of illustrates the Nanny State in general, in my opinion.
I don’t remember how much time manufacturers had to comply to the air bag mandate, and six years seems like a lot of time, so hopefully this shit actually works right. Oh, and isn’t hackable.
Aaaaand another thing: This yet another mandate making cars even more expensive. Hopefully car companies and insurance companies can convince the feds that owning a new car is a civil right. Then then government can subsidize the cars for those unable afford one.
I could probably go on but I’ll spare you.
Then then government can subsidize the cars for those unable afford one.
Obama did it. It was called Cash For Clunkers.
Well, this is fairly absurd. Will it help some people? I think it might. Will it hurt a lot? Absolutely. Mechanical complexity aside these systems aren’t free. How much money will go into idiot assist systems? That is money that could have went elsewhere, such as food, shelter, education, medical… All of those things have real impact. That’s just initial expense. How about maintenance, inspections, etc… ? Also not talked about is the efficiency impact. The government wants more efficient cars. Rather than simplifying cars, we weigh them down with additional equipment that takes a larger alternator to run.
We don’t need better cars, we need better drivers.
Just like the self parking cars. How many of those have not worked as described? I know of one myself and they aren’t even common.
On top of all of this, I feel bad for the auto companies. How many recalls can they sustain and lawsuits weather when these systems fail?
I feel that you don’t even have to learn to drive a car now. Are we that stupid and lazy to not know or care to drive a car properly? Some features like antilock brakes are good but some cars park them selves for you. Terrible
If you make something idiot proof, they will just raise better idiots!
I can’t keep up with technology as it is, now they throw this into the mix!
Yes. Have you seen the average motorist? They rather be doing anything but driving. Give then all the wizard cars so they can continue jerking off on FaceBook.
Which will make me stick with old iron more fiercely.
Expecting people to become better drivers, or trying to teach them is a pipe dream. The more technology there is to do things for us the more we can forget how to do them. As lame as all of this idiot-proofing is, I’m ok with it if it keeps some retard from killing me.