Few Autobrake Systems Perform Well at Night, Study Confirms

Among the various advanced driver assistance features in today’s vehicles, automatic emergency braking (AEB) is arguably one of the most useful and appreciated, especially by drivers who tend to get distracted from time to time. But the technology, like so many others, has limitations.

Since a high percentage of pedestrian crashes occur on dark roads, the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently introduced a nighttime test of pedestrian AEB systems to validate their performance.

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The test is conducted at two different sets of speed, with the high beams on and off. It simulates two common pedestrian crash scenarios—an adult crossing the road and an adult walking along the road at the edge of the lane. The ambient illumination surrounding the test track must remain below 1 lux, or about the amount of light cast by a full moon, throughout the evaluation.

Only four of the first 23 midsize cars, midsize SUVs and small pickups tested earned the highest rating of “superior,” including the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Camry and Toyota Highlander.

Seven others received an “advanced” rating, namely the Honda Accord, Hyundai Palisade and Sonata, Nissan Frontier and Murano, as well as the Subaru Ascent and Outback.

Even more vehicles performed poorly. The Chevrolet Traverse, Ford Explorer, Maverick and Ranger, Mazda CX-9, as well as the Volkswagen Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport and Tiguan achieved a “basic” score, while the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Pilot, Nissan Altima and Toyota Tacoma didn’t even perform well enough in the dark to earn any credit.

For the record, 19 of those 23 vehicles earned superior or advanced ratings in the daylight test, which happens to be one of the many criteria the IIHS uses to hand its TOP SAFETY PICK and TOP SAFETY PICK+ awards. Starting in 2023, an advanced or superior rating in the nighttime test will become a requirement for the TOP SAFETY PICK+ award.

“It’s discouraging that so many midsize SUVs and small pickups perform poorly in the nighttime test because research suggests these types of vehicles are more dangerous to pedestrians,” said IIHS president David Harkey.

He noted that the approximately 7,300 pedestrians killed on U.S. roads in 2021 accounted for almost a fifth of all traffic fatalities. And three-quarters of them died at night.

According to Harkey, there is a lot of room for improvement, but automakers have the expertise and the technology to rise to this new challenge, as evidenced by the vehicles that performed well in the nighttime test.