Survey Finds Most Owners Like Emergency Auto Braking

Consumer Reports subscribers have just provided the buying public with some important information on automatic emergency braking (AED). Also called forward collision prevention (FCP), AEB is technology that will be on all passenger cars in the U.S. by 2022 but is already found on all new mainstream Toyota and Lexus models, and for next year, Nissan will follow Toyota's lead and make the system standard on all their mainstream cars.

Consumer Reports found that about one in five vehicle owners with AWB reported that the system had saved them from a crash. That might seem high, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) did a real world study of identical vehicles with and without AEB and found the vehicles with the system had 40% fewer front to rear-end crashes. Even more interesting was that 69% of vehicle owners with AEB report they are "Very Satisfied." Only 3% report that they find the system annoying.

The systems are not all the same in their effectiveness, nor in their user-friendliness. Subaru's EyeSight system has long been rated among the highest overall for performance. Subaru also has the highest customer satisfaction rating according to Consumer Reports, with a 74% "Very Satisfied" score. Mazda and Acura's systems have the lowest scores, yet over half of owners of both brands' systems still they that they are "Very Satisfied."

Every article about active safety systems brings out the naysayers. To which we like to ask, "Would you prefer the car behind you be equipped with a system that can stop it automatically, or not?"