Automatic braking can cut crashes over 40%

TWO new .S. studies show that automatic emergency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40 .

The studies released Tuesday, one by a government-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to make the calculations. Automatic emergency braking can stop vehicles if a crash is imminent, or slow them to reduce the severity.

Some automakers are moving toward a voluntary commitment by 20 companies to make the braking technology standard equipment on 95 of their light-duty models during the current model year that ends next August.

A study by The artnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety compared data on auto equipment with 12 million police-reported crashes from 13 states that was collected by the National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, the partnership said in a statement Tuesday. The group studied forward collision warning as well as emergency braking.

The group found frontto-rear crashes were cut 49 when the striking vehicle had forward collision alert plus automatic braking, when compared with vehicles that didn’t have either system. Rear crashes with injuries were cut by 53 , the study found.

ehicles with forward collision warning systems only reduced rear-end crashes by 16 , and cut rear crashes with injuries by 19 .

Automatic emergency braking works well in all conditions, even when roadway, weather or lighting conditions were not ideal, the study showed.

The group also looked at lane departure warning systems, and lane-keeping systems, which keep vehicles in their lanes. They reduced crashes from autos leaving the roadway by and roaddeparture crashes that cause injuries by .