Report: Some ADAS features are in more than 90% of new vehicles

Some advanced driver-assist features are present in more than 90 percent of new vehicles, according to a new report released as part of a partnership between automotive manufacturers and NHTSA.

The report, published Oct. 2 by the Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety, found that five ADAS features — forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection warning, pedestrian automatic emergency braking and lane departure warning — are each in more than 90 percent of 2023 model year vehicles.

Automatic emergency braking, for example, is present in 94 percent of 2023 model year vehicles, surging from 4 percent in 2015. Many automakers made voluntary commitments to offer automatic emergency braking in new passenger vehicles starting in 2022.

Forward collision warning was also in 94 percent of vehicles, up from 12.8 percent in 2015.

The report is based on data from roughly 98 million passenger vehicles in the U.S., comprising about 80 percent of the U.S. passenger vehicle market. Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Stellantis, Subaru and Toyota provided data for 2023 model year vehicles through July 31, 2023.

More than half of 2023-model passenger vehicles have 10 out of 14 of the features included in the survey. Those features include adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning and lane keeping assistance.

The report suggests that automakers believe the safety benefits and competitive advantages of advanced driver-assist systems outweigh their considerable expense and the persistent consumer misunderstandings about their capabilities and limitations.

Manufacturers have forged ahead with voluntary commitments as the federal government has moved slowly to regulate and educate consumers about the technology. For example, the Government Accountability Office said in March that NHTSA had not finalized a plan for educating consumers about the efficacy of advanced driver-assist features "and has missed time frames even though work on these upgrades started years ago."

Automakers "are committed to ultimately reducing fatalities in their vehicles and serious injuries," said Michelle Michelini, the director of surface transportation at MITRE, which operates the Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety. "They look at that big picture."

While the safety benefits of the most common technologies are well-documented, automakers have struggled to iron out the kinks. For example, drivers have complained of injuries and near misses involving false activations of automatic emergency braking that can engage the brakes when no obstacle is present. This phenomenon is sometimes called "phantom braking."

NHTSA estimated in April that 40,990 people died in 2023 in motor vehicle traffic crashes. While that is a decline of 3.6 percent from 2022, the government and the industry are still working to prevent and mitigate crashes, injuries and fatalities. American drivers have held on to unsafe driving behaviors that increased during the pandemic, such as speeding.

"The features are helping to mitigate some of that behavior," Michelini said.