Ted Cruz Blames Safety Features for the Rising Cost of Cars; Senate Could Roll Back Regulations

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a January hearing on car affordability, with a main point of discussion being safety features that committee chairman Ted Cruz claims raise the cost of vehicles.

According to an article in CarExpert by Derek Fung, “The CEOs of America’s Big Three automakers (Ford, GM and Stellantis) have been invited to attend, along with Tesla’s head of vehicle engineering.”

The average cost of a new car rose above $50,000 for the first time in September, according to Kelley Blue Book. However, this includes a rush of buyers for EVs, which are typically more expensive, before the federal tax credit expired. 

Automakers are trying to block a mandatory requirement for autonomous emergency braking (AEB), which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) plans to make mandatory by 2029. “This is despite a wide-ranging study of over 98 million vehicles funded by both NHTSA and automakers showing AEB reduces front-to-rear car accidents by 49 per cent, and accidents with pedestrians, cyclists and other road users by nine per cent.”