‘All of a sudden it slammed on the brakes’ Hundreds of complaints filed over auto braking systems

Because automakers voluntarily decided to do this, Michael Brooks from the Center for Auto Safety says there are no standards or regulations to follow for these systems. Brooks says that could be contributing to the problem.

“We’re hoping that NHTSA takes the lessons that it learns in these investigations of the vehicles that are on the road now and can take those lessons, put them into a performance standard that prevents these type of incidents from occurring in the future,” Brooks said.

By WSBTV.com News Staff
May 4, 2022

ATLANTA — It’s technology designed to save lives and prevent crashes on the road.

But could flaws in vehicle automatic emergency braking systems be causing accidents instead?

Channel Two investigative reporter Justin Gray discovered hundreds of official complaints filed with federal regulators.

You can very easily imagine the potential danger. A car going down a busy road or even at high-speeds on the interstate and the brakes suddenly slamming the car to a stop.

Crash test videos from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) show how helpful automatic emergency braking or AEB systems can be in preventing an accident.

They’ve been called a game-changer and IIHS projects the technology could cut rear-end crashes in half.

But what if that system doesn’t work how it should?

Instead, the car brakes when it’s not supposed to.

Click here to view the full story from WSBTV, Atlanta.