Automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems, now standard in all new cars, are designed to prevent collisions by automatically applying the brakes if a potential accident is detected and the driver doesn’t react quickly enough. However, a recent study indicates that these systems may have a significant “blind spot” when it comes to high-visibility clothing and reflective strips worn by pedestrians and cyclists.
Researchers at the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted a series of tests to investigate this issue. The study involved a crash test dummy and three popular car models: a Honda CR-V, a Mazda CX-5, and a Subaru Forester. The vehicles were driven at 25 mph in the tests.
The results revealed that the Honda and Mazda models failed to recognize the dummy when it was wearing reflective strips, resulting in a collision. The Honda also failed to slow down when the dummy was wearing a high-visibility jacket. The Subaru performed better, slowing down in all scenarios except when the dummy was wearing reflective strips in low-light conditions.
IIHS President David Harkey expressed concern over these findings, stating, “These results suggest that some automakers need to tweak their pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems. It’s untenable that the clothes that pedestrians, cyclists, and roadway workers wear to be safe may make them harder for crash avoidance technology to recognize.” Harkey emphasized this as a “worrisome blind spot.”
Study author David Kidd shed light on the problem, explaining, “The placement and motion of reflective strips… allows drivers to quickly recognize the pattern of movement as a person. Unfortunately, the moving strips didn’t have the same effect for the pedestrian AEB systems we tested and probably confounded their sensors.”
In response to the findings, Mazda issued a statement affirming their commitment to road safety, saying, “Road safety for everyone, including those in and around our vehicles, is a top priority for Mazda. Our engineers are continuously working to improve Mazda’s crash avoidance systems and are already using these latest IIHS results to further assist us in this work, with special consideration for nighttime pedestrian scenarios.”
Honda and Subaru were also approached for comment on the study’s findings, according to the IIHS.
