GM trails in effort to make most vehicles with automatic emergency braking

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Although General Motors signed on to a voluntary agreement to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature in almost all of its new vehicles by the 2023 model year, it has not met the goal and lags the rest of the industry, according to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Just 73 percent of GM’s light-duty vehicles were produced with automatic braking systems in the 2022 model year.

In 2016, GM and 190 automakers pledged to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on more than 95 percent of the light-duty vehicles they produce by the 2023 model year, according to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation and IIHS. Light-duty vehicles are those 8,500 pounds and under.

GM is well below its American-based counterparts, all of which have met the 95 percent goal.

The Detroit automaker is one of four reporting below 90 percent. The others are Jaguar Land Rover, 75 percent; Maserati, 71 percent; and Porsche, 70 percent.

GM’s low percentage was a result of previous packaging decisions that it’s working to update, spokesman Stuart Fowle told Automotive News.

GM plans to surpass the goal in the 2023 model year, with hardware changes allowing production to rise to 98 percent of light-duty vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking systems, Fowle said. The safety package also will include automatic pedestrian-detection braking and lane-keeping alerts, features beyond what was in the voluntary agreement, Fowle said.

— Hannah Brock

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