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October 3, 2019 10:10 pm

New Cars' Pedestrian-Safety Features Fail In Deadliest Situations, Study Finds

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: New safety features being rolled out by auto makers to keep drivers from hitting pedestrians don't work at times in some of the most dangerous situations and frequently fail at night, according to a new study by AAA. Testing performed by the association found that pedestrian-detection technology offered in four different models performed inconsistently and didn't activate properly after dark, when many roadway deaths occur. The uneven performance highlights the challenges the auto industry faces as it looks to automate more of the car's driving functions and roll out new crash-avoidance technologies that rely on sensors and software to detect road hazards. For the AAA study, testers picked four sedan models -- the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Tesla Model 3 -- and put the cars through scenarios meant to replicate some of the most dangerous situations for pedestrians. One test, for instance, simulates a child darting out from between parked cars, and another involves an adult crossing the road as the vehicle turns right. At 20 miles an hour, the cars struggled with each test, AAA found. The child was struck 89% of the time, and all of the cars hit the pedestrian dummy after making a right turn. The systems were generally ineffective if the car was going 30 mph. The systems were also completely ineffective at night, Mr. Brannon said, the deadliest time for pedestrians. Three-quarters of all pedestrian fatalities occur after dark, according to AAA. When testers drove the cars directly at a dummy crossing the road in the dark, however, the system failed not only to stop or slow the car but also to provide any alert of a pedestrian's presence before a collision. "Pedestrian fatalities are really becoming a crisis," said Greg Brannon, AAA's director of automotive engineering. While such pedestrian-detection systems have the potential to save lives, drivers shouldn't become overly reliant on them to prevent accidents, Mr. Brannon said. "It's going to be a little while before the effectiveness of the system catches up with the marketing, unfortunately," AAA's Mr. Brannon said.

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