Most New Cars Have AEB Safety Technology That Prevents Crashes
Ford and Honda—including their Lincoln and Acura luxury brands, respectively—are the latest automakers to meet the voluntary agreement, which was brokered in 2016 by the IIHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and is monitored by Consumer Reports. They join Subaru, Tesla, Volvo, Audi, BMW, Hyundai/Genesis, Volkswagen/Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota/Lexus, and Mazda in equipping more than 95 percent of their 2021-model-year passenger cars and light trucks with AEB.
But two major automakers lag. Only 58 percent of General Motors vehicles sold in 2021 had AEB. And Stellantis, the parent company of Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, and Ram, equipped only 43 percent of its 2021 vehicles with AEB. For the 2022 model year, only 40 percent of Stellantis models come with standard AEB.
“We will and have always intended to comply,” says Eric Mayne, a spokesperson for Stellantis. Stuart Fowle, a spokesperson for GM, says that the automaker “remains on track to meet the industry commitment to automatic emergency braking” by the target date.
But they’ll need to catch up quickly, says William Wallace, CR’s manager of safety policy. “They’re really running out of time,” he says. “Delays like this send a terrible message to customers about how much these companies value safety—especially at a time when more people than ever are being injured or killed on our roads. Stellantis and GM have had more than five years to get their act together, and it’s long past time for them to make this lifesaving technology standard, instead of forcing customers to pay extra for their safety.”
Gloss