Draft Safety Standards Regarding Automatic Emergency Braking

The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued two proposed rules on Automatic Emergency Braking systems as a standard on new vehicles.

In scope are both light and heavy vehicles, which shall be equipped with an AEB (automatic emergency braking) system to detect imminent crash situations.

The first draft standard was proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in May this year and encompassed light vehicles only. In June, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) followed suit with another proposal, regarding heavy vehicles.

For both standards, the AEB system shall include various sensor technologies and sub-systems to automatically apply the vehicle brakes if the driver either fails to break or does not use full force for braking. Heavy vehicles shall additionally have an electronic stability control system that meets any equipment, malfunction detection and general system operational capability requirements of FMVSS No. 136.

For light vehicles, the requirements shall be applicable to vehicles manufactured 3 years after official publication for pedestrian AEB only. A fully functioning AEB, exceeding pedestrian AEB requirements, shall be applicable to any vehicle manufactured 4 years after publication of the standard. Heavy vehicles shall have a fully functional AEB system 3 years after publication, except for vehicles not currently subject to FMVSS No. 136, for which the implementation has to be done within 5 years.

The text of the draft standard for light vehicles can be viewed HERE, and for heavy-duty vehicles HERE.