A Study of the Performance of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) Systems Equipped on Passenger Vehicles for Model Years 2013 to 2018

Over the past decade, manufacturers have introduced vehicles equipped with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) into the North American market. These vehicles have the capability to not only detect an impending collision and warn the driver, but also to initiate braking independent of the driver. The collision avoidance strategies used by the various manufacturers have not been studied extensively. In 2013, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) began testing vehicles equipped with AEB in rear-end collision situations in order to issue their front crash prevention safety ratings for these vehicles. To date, over 180 vehicles from 31 manufactures spanning model years 2013 to 2018 have been tested. This paper presents an analysis of the data collected in these tests. The objective of the study was to assess the differences in performance and strategies used, at two different closing speeds, between manufacturers. The difference in strategies included differences in braking rates and timing of the onset of braking. With more vehicles being equipped with AEB systems each year, this study will be a valuable resource for collision reconstructionists to understand the performance of these systems.