Emergency Braking Will Save Lives. Car manufacturers want to pay extra for this

The most challenging part of FMVSS 127 is the nighttime Pedestrian Emergency Braking (PAEB) test, which, unlike the EU’s new AEB regulation, must be run in complete darkness. According to NHTSA, more than 70 percent of pedestrians struck and killed by motorists occur at night.

says Nadine Wong, director of track testing at the independent testing company Dynamic Research. Operating from a test track 15 miles north of Bakersfield, California, Dynamic Research already does FMVSS 127 testing for customers. “We know there are currently cars that are close to meeting the standard.” Wong said.

NHTSA admits FMVSS 127 “enforces technology” but emphasizes that “the standard is practical.”

Based on the reduction in software development costs, NHSTA estimates that the industry will receive $354 million in software development costs, while the U.S. community will benefit by up to $7.26 billion. “negative externalities” serious car accidents such as emergency service calls, medical care, insurance administrative costs, workplace costs and legal costs.

“Given that auto manufacturing is America’s largest manufacturing sector, employs 10 million Americans, accounts for 5 percent of U.S. GDP and contributes $1 trillion to the economy every year, it’s remarkable that (the auto industry) can’t do that,” he said. Meet the requirements of the AEB regulation by September 2029.

a press release, William Wallace, Consumer Report’s director of safety advocacy, agreed: “It’s very disappointing that automakers are suing to block this lifesaving automatic emergency braking rule.”

Shaun Kildare, research director Road and Car Safety advocatesagrees. “When they say, ‘It’s impossible, we can never meet that standard,’ that’s a lie, because some car companies already sell cars that do that in the U.S.,” he says, “and they definitely sell vehicles that do that abroad.” (Car companies) just don’t want to pay for it in every car.”

However, the Alliance’s Bozzella called FMVSS 127 a “disastrous” rule that would “endlessly and unnecessarily frustrate drivers (and) make vehicles more expensive.” Somewhat oddly, Bozzella also claims that a stricter standard, even stricter than its EU equivalent, “wouldn’t really improve driver or pedestrian safety”.

However, the Alliance’s claim must fail, Chase says. “NHTSA is risk averse. They like everything buttoned up. If they thought it could be easily challenged, they wouldn’t have introduced this rule.”

Late last year, NHTSA has released a number of studies Showing that more than 860,000 lives have been saved by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards since 1968. Frontal airbags alone have saved more than 50,000 lives over 30 years. estimates NHTSA.

President Trump nominated Stephen Bradbury to be secretary of transportation. Bradbury is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank Project 2025The 900-plus page plan for government that Trump rejected during the election.

Project 2025’s transportation plans include lowering fuel economy standards and removing highway costs from pedestrian and bicycle projects. Project 2025 also advocated smaller government and fewer regulations. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiencyor DOGE.

It’s unclear what President Trump, DOT or DOGE will do with FMVSS 127, but Norton says Autonomous driving book“If we can’t get automakers to embrace car automation for safety reasons, we can’t expect them to take fully robotic cars seriously.”