Vehicle Safety Ratings More Technical
NHTSA tweaks for consumer considerations intended to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated features.
The safety ratings changes include new tests on vehicles’ ability to minimize pedestrian injury and death in a crash.
Pexels/Josh Sorenson
Newer vehicle technologies have been added to a federal vehicle ratings program for consumers to evaluate vehicles’ safety.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made the additions to its 5-Star Safety Ratings, along with mapping out later changes over the next 10 years. The federal agency started using the ratings system in 1993.
The immediate additions include four advanced driver-assistance systems and a “crashworthiness pedestrian protection” testing on vehicles’ ability to minimize pedestrian injury and death in a crash.
“Like our move earlier this year to make automatic emergency braking standard on new passenger cars and light trucks, these changes to the 5-Star Safety Ratings will speed up adoption of technologies that reduce the frequency and severity of crashes while helping consumers make informed decisions about buying a new car,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The ADAS additions are pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind-spot warning and blind-spot intervention.
The agency said it will also strengthen its evaluation of ADAS it already tests, including automatic emergency brakes.
The updates are intended to give consumers “more useful and relevant information on the latest safety technologies” and keep up “with the pace of technological change and innovation,” said NHTSA Chief Counsel Adam Raviv.
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