Hyundai Motor America has expressed its voluntary commitment to ensure that all new cars it releases by 2022 will come with the Automatic Emergency Braking as standard. This commitment coincides with the 2022 reporting year of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The company has long supported having standardized safety technologies in cars. Working with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the NHTSA, and the auto industry in general, the company hopes to have AEB as standard equipment on all future cars.
Hyundai Motor America Vice-President for Corporate and Product Planning Mike O’Brien talked about how important it is for customers to be given effective safety technologies.
With a number of new models, the company will be bringing in new standards for safety especially with technologies that have been shown to be effective not only when it comes to preventing accidents but also in reducing the injuries incurred if an accident happens, he continued.
At present, there are six models that have the AEB as an option. These are the 2017 model year units which include the 2017 Elantra, 2017 Santa Fe, 2017 Santa Fe Sport, and the 2016 models which are the 2016 Sonata, 2016 Tucson and 2016 Genesis.
During the latter part of 2016, the company disclosed that all of its 2017 model-year vehicles will not have the AEB as standard. The AEB is a system that makes use of forward-facing radar and a camera. With the addition of a sensor, the AEB detects if there is a pedestrian or a vehicle and notifies the driver of a possible collision. If the driver is unable to immediately react to the situation, the system then applies the emergency brakes.
This system is the reason why the Genesis, Tucson and Sonata models have been rated by the IIHS as TOP SAFETY PICK+. It was in 2003 when Hyundai first worked on having safety features standardized. Back then, it included a side airbag protection as standard for its then line-up.
Hyundai thus became the first non-luxury brand to get passive safety technology at this level. When the company launched the Tucson by 2004, it became the first-ever SUV below $20,000 to have the Electronic Stability Control and six airbags as a standard feature. Then Hyundai revealed the 2006 Sonata. The 2006 Sonata became the first, and so far the only, mid-size sedan to come with the Electronic Stability Control as standard.