A new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rule that will require automatic emergency braking (AEB) on all new vehicles obligates repair businesses to prevent non-compliance.

NHTSA’s new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS 127, will require AEB and pedestrian AEB to come standard by September 2029 on all passenger cars and light trucks weighing up to 10,000 pounds.

All cars will be required to stop and avoid contact with a vehicle in front of them up to 62 miles per hour. The systems must also detect pedestrians in daylight and at night. The standard requires that the AEB 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.

NHTSA expects the FMVSS No. 127 will significantly reduce rear-end and pedestrian crashes, saving at least 360 lives and preventing at least 24,000 injuries every year. NHTSA also says AEB and pedestrian AEB will significantly reduce crash-related property damage and associated costs.

SEMA says in a news release that it provided extensive comments to NHTSA in response to the agency’s proposed rulemaking in August 2023.

“Although the final rulemaking focuses on vehicle manufacturers, NHTSA concluded that alterers and repair businesses are obligated to prevent non-compliance with FMVSS 127 created by this final rule,” the release states. “The rule provides some flexibility in terms of compliance for law enforcement vehicles.”

The rule distinguishes differences in the applicability of FMVSS’ according to the Safety Act. Repair businesses are prohibited from knowingly making any part of a device or element of design installed in or on a motor vehicle inoperative that complies with an applicable FMVSS, NHTSA wrote in the rule.

“An entity does not need to have actual knowledge that a device or element of design would be made inoperative by the entity’s modification in order for that modification to violate section 30122,” NHTSA wrote. “Additionally, section 30122 does not require repair shops to restore safety systems damaged in a collision to a new or pre-crash condition. Instead, under section 30122, when any repair to a vehicle is completed, the vehicle must be returned to the customer with the safety systems capable of functioning at least as well as they were able to when the vehicle was received by the repair shop.

“Given the information above, NHTSA concludes the two types of entities about which SEMA is concerned both have an obligation to prevent non-compliance with the FMVSS created by this final rule.”

This means that if safety systems were operable and properly calibrated before a collision, the rule intends for repairers to return the vehicle to the same working order.

This likely will be necessary knowledge to keep in mind when restoring future safety systems post-loss.

Alterers are to ensure that altered vehicles conform to FMVSSs affected by the alteration(s) and place a permanent label on the altered vehicle identifying the alterer and the date of alteration.

The AEB standard also includes:

• • Prohibition of AEB deactivation of AEB except in very limited law enforcement circumstances.
  • Adoption of full collision avoidance testing, meaning subject vehicles used in AEB performance tests listed under the FMVSS aren’t to make contact with the lead vehicle.

The final rule didn’t include SEMA’s recommendation that automakers be required to share specific information, such as diagnostic codes, with consumers, according to the release.

SEMA Garage and Government Affairs staff are reviewing the final rule to better understand how it will impact its members.

In 2022, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) petitioned federal regulators to require pedestrian AEB on passenger vehicles that work well in the dark.

David Harkey, IIHS Highway Loss Data Institute president, says the final rule is a step forward for safety, but “the long runway provided for compliance is unnecessary.”

“We applaud the new regulation, which will ensure that all passenger vehicles come with robust AEB systems that can operate at high speeds and detect pedestrians in both daylight and dark conditions. That’s something we specifically asked NHTSA to require after our research showed that existing pedestrian AEB systems weren’t performing well in the dark.

“However, we are disappointed that NHTSA has given the industry five years from now to meet the new requirement, as we believe it would be feasible for manufacturers to comply far sooner. In the interim, IIHS will continue working to ensure these systems recognize motorcycles, heavy trucks, and bicycles in addition to passenger vehicles and pedestrians, which could save an additional 1,000 lives each year.”

The final rule, announced April 29, came in response to a mandate from Congress that was included in a provision of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provision to establish minimum performance standards that require all passenger vehicles to be equipped with AEB. The standard also advances USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), which was launched in January 2022 to address the national crisis in traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

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