Four decades after a failed push to outfit cars and light trucks with devices that force drivers to buckle up, regulators and the auto industry are giving interlocks another chance.
The U.S. government tried to mandate ignition interlocks — which prevent a vehicle from starting unless seat belts are fastened — in cars in the early 1970s to prod more people to use seat belts.
A closely watched test of vehicles that monitor and talk to one another to avoid crashes will run for six months beyond its original end date this summer, U.S. auto safety regulators say.
Under the pilot program in Ann Arbor, Mich., nearly 3,000 vehicles are communicating on public roads using a WiFi-like technology called dedicated short range communication, or DSRC.
Toyota Motor Corp. decided not to market its brake-override system as “safe stop” to avoid promising more than the mechanism could deliver for driver safety, the company’s top U.S. executive told a California jury.
A test track being built by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to measure the effectiveness of accident-avoidance technology is a welcome development.
Ford has reached a settlement with NHTSA over a recall of older Escapes last year, agreeing to pay the maximum $17.35 million fine to resolve claims that the automaker took too long to notify its customers of a defect.
