Automatic Appraisals: Automakers make improvements in automatic emergency braking systems following stricter evaluations, says recent IIHS study

Toronto, Ontario — Automakers are delivering major improvements when it comes to automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems following stricter evaluations, says a recent report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Notably, in a recent test of AEB systems, the IIHS reveals that 22 of the latest 30 vehicles evaluated earned a ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’ rating.

This rating requires the vehicles’ systems to be able to prevent or substantially mitigate crashes at higher speeds.

Comparatively, last April, only three out of the first 10 small SUVs tested performed at the same level.

The updated vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention test was performed at 50, 60 and 70 km/hour.

In addition to a passenger car target, the study also explored performance with a motorcycle target and a semitrailer.

Overall, the good-rated vehicle systems delivered timely forward collision warnings and came to a complete stop before impact in all trials including the passenger car target. In contrast, these vehicles met the same standards in most motorcycle trials, but provided timely warnings in all trials with the semitrailer.

And, when evaluating the acceptable-rated systems, vehicles were able to come to a complete stop before impact and delivered timely warnings in a large majority of the trials.

However, the study further outlines, these vehicles performed subpar at higher speeds, especially with the motorcycle target.

In all instances, these vehicles failed to prevent a collision with the motorcycle target in the 70 km/hour scenarios.

For more information, or to see the full report, click here.