Regulatory Agency Delays Pedestrian-Oriented Car Safety Rating Updates

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is delaying the implementation of new vehicle safety ratings at the request of automakers, reports David Shepardson for Reuters. 

The agency had previously announced that it would add “blind-spot warning, blind spot intervention, lane-keeping assist and pedestrian automatic emergency braking” to the list of features it includes in its New Car Assessment Program, which provides consumers with safety information on new cars. “But on Friday, the agency said it will delay the stringent new rules until the 2027 model year after a group representing nearly all major automakers in April said the agency had failed to publish pedestrian crash test procedures.”

The changes were a major step forward for pedestrian safety, which was not previously accounted for in U.S. vehicle safety ratings. According to Shepardson, “Earlier this month, NHTSA said it was planning to write rules to give automakers another two years to comply with the automatic emergency braking rule to ‘have more time to achieve challenging aspects of the standard’ and to give the industry additional flexibility.”