Auto-braking failures behind 72 accidents in Japan last year

TOKYO: The transport ministry received reports on 72 cases last year in which the failure of automatic braking systems had resulted in accidents.

This is the first time the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry has tallied the number of accidents involving automatic braking systems, which are designed to prevent collisions by detecting vehicles and people.

The ministry has cautioned people not to overly rely on automatic brakes, as there have been cases where the devices failed to work in time due to excessive speed.

An automatic braking system is designed to stop a vehicle automatically to prevent it from causing damage. It detects obstacles and other objects in its path using a camera and radar built into it.

In Japan, vehicles equipped with automatic braking systems have been available on the market since 2003 and have rapidly spread in number.

Of all passenger cars produced in 2016, automatic braking systems were equipped in 66% of them, or about 2.48 million vehicles.

According to the transport ministry, there were 340 cases last year involving automatic braking system troubles that were reported by drivers, automakers and other entities.

An analysis by the National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory, which is affiliated with independent administrative institution the National Agency for Automobile and Land Transport Technology, showed that there were 88 cases in which automatic braking systems did not fully function.

Seventytwo of those cases resulted in road incidents such as minor scrapes and rearend collisions.

One of the cases involved an accident in which a pedestrian was hit and killed.

A survey by the laboratory also found a case in which an automatic braking system failed to work in time as the car exceeded the prescribed speed, which is set differently according to the type of vehicle.

“Automatic braking systems can be relied on,” said a ministry official in charge, “but they are not at all perfect.” — The Japan News / Asia News Network