The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to will make automatic emergency braking (AEB), including pedestrian AEB, standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029. NHTSA said that it expects this safety standard to significantly reduce rear-end and pedestrian crashes, adding that making this safety feature standard, rather than a luxury, is part of the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy to address the crisis of deaths on our roads.

In June 2023, NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced a separate notice of proposed rulemaking that would require heavy vehicles, including tractor trailers, to have AEB, which the agencies are in the process of finalizing.

NHTSA projects that this new standard, FMVSS No. 127, will save at least 360 lives and prevent at least 24,000 injuries each year. AEB systems use sensors to detect when a vehicle is close to crashing into a vehicle or pedestrian in front and automatically applies the brakes if the driver has not. Pedestrian AEB technology will detect a pedestrian in both daylight and in darker conditions, which NHTS says will significantly reduce injury or property damage and associated costs from these crashes. 

NHTSA explains that the new standard requires all cars be able to stop and avoid contact with a vehicle in front of them up to 62 MPH and that the systems must detect pedestrians in both daylight and darkness. In addition, the standard requires that the system apply the brakes automatically up to 90 MPH when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent, and up to 45 MPH when a pedestrian is detected.

This final rule applies to nearly all U.S. light vehicles (gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 lbs. or less). A Final Regulatory Impact Analysis that presents the benefits and costs associated with the standard is included in the Final Rule.