The emergency brake will save lives. Car manufacturers want to charge extra for this

The most challenging part of FMVSS 127 is the pedestrian automatic emergency braking (PAEB) test at night, which, unlike the new EU AEB regulation, must work in complete darkness. More than 70 percent of pedestrians struck and killed by motorists are struck at night, according to NHTSA.

Protecting pedestrians at night is “probably going to require more advances and developments in sensor technologies,” says Nadine Wong, director of track testing at an independent testing company. Dynamic search. Working from a test track 15 miles north of Bakersfield, California, Dynamic Research is already underway FMVSS 127 test for customers. “We know that there are vehicles currently available that are already close to achieving the standard,” Wong said.

NHTSA acknowledges that FMVSS 127 is “forcing the technology”, but emphasizes that the “standard is practicable”.

While the industry would be on the hook for $354 million in software development costs, U.S. society would benefit up to $7.26 billion, NHSTA says, citing cost reductions for states united “negative externality” of serious car accidents, such as emergency services, medical care, insurance administration costs, workplace costs and legal costs.

“Considering that automaking is America’s largest manufacturing sector, it employs 10 million Americans, generates 5 percent of the United States’ GDP, and drives $1 trillion into the economy annually,” says Chase , “it is notable that (the auto industry) will not be able to meet the requirements in the AEB rule from September 2029.”

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

Shaun Kildare, director of research at the Highway and Auto Safety Lawyerscompetition “When they say, ‘It’s impractical, we can never meet this standard,’ that’s false because some car companies already sell vehicles in the United States that do it,” he says, “and they definitely sell vehicles abroad that the they do.. (The car companies) just don’t want to pay for every vehicle.”

However, the Alliance’s Bozzella called FMVSS 127 a “disastrous” rule that “will endlessly — and needlessly — frustrate drivers (and) make vehicles more expensive.” Somewhat strangely, Bozzella also argues that the stricter standard, even tougher than the equivalent in the EU, “didn’t really improve the safety of drivers or pedestrians”.

However, the Alliance process should fail, says Chase. “NHTSA is risk averse. They like the whole button thing. They wouldn’t have issued this rule if they thought it could be easily challenged.

At the end of last year, NHTSA has published a series 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 a 30-year period, NHTSA estimates.

President Trump appointed Steven Bradbury be the secretary of transportation. Bradbury is a fellow at the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation, which he wrote Project 2025a more than 900-page plan for the government that Trump disavowed during the election.

Project 2025’s transportation plans include lowering fuel economy standards and eliminating highway fees from pedestrian and bicycle projects. Project 2025 was also in favor of smaller government and fewer regulations, a demand probably supercharged by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiencyor DOGE.

It is unclear what President Trump, the DOT, or DOGE will do with FMVSS 127, but, says Norton, who also authored a book on autonomous driving“If we can’t get automakers to accept vehicle automation for safety, then we can’t expect them to be serious about fully robotic cars.”