By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing to add crash-avoidance technology and pedestrian protection to its five-star New Car Assessment Program starting in model-year ’19. The NHTSA would also incorporate a new test that measures vehicle performance in a frontal offset crash. The so-called “Stars on Cars” label is posted on the new-car window and seeks to provide consumers with safety information when comparison shopping.
The five-star rating system already reflects performance tests for frontal, side and rollover crashworthiness, along with emergency braking systems starting in model-year ’18. The NHTSA would also begin using half-star increments to expand the five-star test results.
Although the NHTSA does not intend to mandate the installation of the technology on all new vehicles, equipment, such as automatic emergency braking, blind-spot detection, lane-departure warning and pedestrian detection, would likely become standard on most vehicles as a result.
For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.