- Reflective clothing may not help in all situations at night
- Electronic safety systems in vehicles do not see in the same way as the human eye
- New federal safety regulations will take effect in 2029
Reflective clothing makes pedestrians more visible to human drivers, but it may also make them visible Invisible to automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems. It aims to reduce the likelihood of vehicles colliding with pedestrians, according to a new case study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
“The placement and movement of reflective strips on the joints and ends of pants and jackets allows drivers to quickly recognize the movement pattern of a person,” study author David Kidd said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the moving strips did not have the same effect on the pedestrian AEB systems we have tested and may It confused their sensors“.
The insurance industry-backed nonprofit previously found that now-common automatic emergency braking systems reduce pedestrian fatalities by 27% overall, but their effect at night is minimal. To better account for this, current IIHS safety ratings are now available Emphasis on night performance Of these systems.
But, digging deeper into the root causes of this disparity, researchers looked specifically at the effect of conspicuous clothing and increased road lighting on the performance of the automatic emergency braking systems in the 2023 Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, and Subaru Forester. ‘Superior’ rating When tested before the rules were renewed for 2024, the CR-V received an ‘Advanced’ rating, the Mazda was not.
The IIHS Standard Pedestrian Emergency Braking Test uses child and adult dummies wearing black shirts and blue pants. In this test, the researchers used adult dummies wearing a black sweatshirt and pants, the same outfit with additional reflective strips (similar to those used by road workers) on the doll’s limbs and joints, a reflective jacket with black sweatpants, a white jacket and a sweatshirt. pants.
The IIHS tests the effect of reflective clothing on automatic emergency braking systems
Tests were conducted in various levels of lighting, including no lighting at all, at a speed of 25 mph. the The CR-V and CX-5 hit the dummy In 84% and 88% of tests, respectively. The Forester was able to avoid a collision in all but one test.
The CR-V and CX-5 also didn’t slow down at all in tests where the dummy was covered in reflective strips. This was also the way the dummy was worn in the only test in which the Forester failed to avoid a collision. In this test, the road was illuminated at 10 lux—half the federally recommended level—and the Forester remained more than 80 percent slower.
It’s unclear why Honda and Mazda’s systems were confused by reflective clothing, and whether other automakers’ systems had similar issues, the IIHS concluded, adding that more research is needed. Such research is particularly urgent given the significant rise in pedestrian deaths on American roads in recent years.
The IIHS also found in 2024 that automatic emergency braking performance It varies from one model to another Depending on other factors such as speed. New federal regulations, scheduled to take effect in 2029, can help address this issue by setting minimum performance standards for these systems.