May 5, 2022 – Now that nearly every new vehicle comes with automatic emergency braking (AEB), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is looking for ways to encourage even better systems that can prevent more severe front-to-rear crashes that occur at higher speeds.
In the new study, IIHS Senior Research Scientist David Kidd found that only 3 percent of police-reported rear-end crashes happen at low speed limits. Increasing the speed of the IIHS test to 35-45 mph would make it relevant to more than 10 times as many police-reported rear-end crashes.
Based on Kidd’s findings, IIHS plans to conduct research tests on six vehicles equipped with different front crash prevention systems at speeds up to 45 mph. Tests will also be conducted using different types of passenger vehicles and other vehicles like a motorcycle and various sizes of trucks as the stationary vehicle.
