Washington, DC – April 20, 2021 – The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) today announced recommendations to modernize the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), the program that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses to convey safety information to consumers. The Auto Innovators plan includes ways NHTSA can “kick start” NCAP immediately.
Currently, NCAP rates the crashworthiness of cars, but does not rate advanced crash avoidance technologies like automatic emergency braking or lane departure warning.
“This plan is a set of recommended actions NHTSA can take today to modernize NCAP and ensure the long-term success of the program,” said Auto Innovators President and CEO John Bozzella. “Although NCAP has inspired similar programs around the world to measure vehicle safety, it has not been updated in a decade. It’s important to stay in sync with global standards and the pace of innovations in car and truck safety that benefit consumers and the traveling public.”
“Auto Innovators welcomes federal leadership in taking immediate action to evaluate and rate modern automotive safety technologies – such as forward collision warning, pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, and high beam assist advancements – to ensure the U.S. can remain a global leader in automotive safety innovation.”
The “Plan to Advance Safety at the Speed of Innovation” provides five process recommendations to unlock NCAP’s full potential. Implementing the five recommendations will result in a modernized NCAP program that will harness powerful market forces to drive investment, development, and deployment of advanced safety technologies and performance. The five recommendations encompass:
- Establishing mid- to long-range NCAP opportunity roadmaps
- Annual stakeholder engagement
- Consistent and harmonized program updates
- Program review and evaluation
- Prioritizing rulemaking to remove existing regulatory barriers
Read the full plan here.