Automatic emergency braking boosts safety but some complaints of false activations

The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.

“When they work, they are among the most revolutionary sets of safety technology that we’ve had in a long time,” said Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety…
“We believe it’s a real safety concern when you’ve got brakes engaging when they shouldn’t be,” said Levine. “This should be a recall.”
“We want to make sure everyone with one of these Rogues ― 2017, 2018, 2019 ― gets that fix,” Levine said.
The independent nonprofit vehicle safety group conceded that new technology sometimes requires fixes and tweaks to ensure effectiveness but expects more and more vehicles will be equipped with the advanced safety technology.
“It’s not uncommon to see new features have, let’s call them bumps in the road, as they come on line,” Levine said.

Levine’s group petitioned NHTSA in March to initiate a safety defect investigation into the systems installed on late model Nissan Rogues.
The latest wave in vehicle safety technology are systems that can apply the brakes in an emergency when the driver fails to respond in time.
Government safety experts and manufacturers agree that automatic emergency braking, also known as forward collision warning systems, can save lives and reduce the severity of crashes.
But some drivers with the advanced safety feature have complained that their vehicle’s brakes activated when the path was clear and there was no emergency.
“When they work, they are among the most revolutionary sets of safety technology that we’ve had in a long time,” said Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety.
Click here for the full article from WTOP.