Industry News: NTSB: Make Collision-Avoidance Tech Standard On All Cars

[William Maley]

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

November 15, 2012

The National Transportation Safety Board announced their 2013 Most Wanted safety list which is used to "increase awareness of, and support for, the most critical changes needed to reduce transportation accidents and save lives." On this year's list, the NTSB put "Collision-Avoidance" technologies to be standard on all new vehicles.

What the NTSB means by "Collision-Avoidance" technologies are features like rear-end collision warning, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and advanced braking systems. Most of these features are either standard or optional on luxury vehicles or high-trim models. The NTSB wants to see these features on new models.

The NTSB cites data from NHTSA which says forward collision warning can prevent 879 fatal car crashes annually and lane departure warning can prevent 247 fatal crashes annually.

"What they are recommending is a safety system for cars where you have a multitude of things that cooperate together to dramatically improve safety in a vehicle," said Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety.

Automakers aren't happy with this suggestion, saying that adding this equipment to their vehicle could add thousands to the base price. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers say collision warning systems could add between $1,000 to $3,000 per vehicle, while collision warning systems that activate the brakes cost around $3,500 per vehicle.

The NTSB shot back to the claims of the Alliance saying that "many of the safety features rely on the same electronic sensors and computers."

"Some of this technology can be done for literally just a few dollars. I don't think we're talking about adding thousands of dollars to a car," said NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt.

Source: Associated Press

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[z28luvr01]

Let's not. Let's instead make a concerted effort towards getting stupid drivers off the road once and for all.

[Z-06]

Where in the blooming world is comprehensive driver safety education? Engineering solutions are the last bastion for fight to improve safety. Implementing proper safety culture is first.

[ocnblu]

Driver's continuing education requirements. Not nannies that will lead to more complacency behind the wheel. There comes a time in a man's life when he must leave his mother.

[G. David Felt]

It is amazing how many people I have seen texting, playing with their Ipad, eating bowl of ceral, changing cloths, doing everything else except safe driving.

We need comprehensive driving school that pounds in the importants of paying attention to driving. If a person does not want that responsibility, then use public transportation and pay a fair fee to cover the cost rather than expect the tax payers to pay for you. This is not an attack on poor people but the system does have to pay for itself and not be a leach on the people.

We need to get the people who fear driving and speed off the roads as they are more a hinderance to the safety of all.

[yougojay]

Let's not. Let's instead make a concerted effort towards getting stupid drivers off the road once and for all.

Yes, Wouldn't that be great? What happened to getting in a vehicle & actually driving it?

Wow, seriously, actually focusing on shifting, staying in the middle of your lane, anticipating conditions around you..

Driving education won't work...people in class rolling their eyes thinking, 'yeah I know, I know, I'm not stupid" then getting behind the wheel and doing the same things (eating a bowl of cereal, texting, blabbing on the phone, changing their underwear, putting on make-up, reading the newspaper, playing with a computer tablet, refinishing the coffee table in the back seat, performing open heart surgery, yeah, the usual stuff...)

It will never change. Maybe add all the safety features and cut out all the extra junk? What's wrong with manual windows, manual door locks, NO Air? All the fancy stuff stops working and you end up spending 100's of dollars to fix it. That will never happen because people are spoiled & used to those conveniences. SO, they will eventually add all of this safety stuff, and vehicles will keep going up & up in price.

[Drew Dowdell]

Collision warning systems are from the devil. I hated the one in the GMC Terrain... it was annoying and I disabled it. Somehow I managed to also not ram anyone.

[regfootball]

over reaching government

nanny state

tyranny

ABS / ESC I can understand. Collision avoidance and stuff is over the line i think.