Vehicle automatic braking systems are not foolproof, AAA says
BOSTON - A warning from AAA: don't rely on your car's automatic braking system to stop you from backing into an oncoming car, or even a child.
AAA says the automated systems are available in roughly 30% of cars. They slam the brakes when the vehicle senses a driver is about to back into an object. There is also a system that stops the car if it senses a vehicle passing behind as the driver backs up.
"These systems really aren't good at preventing collisions. That's the big takeaway," said Mark Schieldrop, AAA Northeast Spokesperson. "They should never be a replacement for someone using their eyes and their ears."
Their study showed that the brakes do work 75% of the time when backing into a child, however half the of the time the car still struck the dummy. The odds are even worse if a car drives behind. In that scenario, 65% of the time brakes hit, but 97.5% of the time the vehicles still collided.
"Car companies are trying to work on cars to get them to stop collisions entirely, but right now it seems like those systems aren't foolproof," said Schieldrop.
AAA suggests drivers consider automated braking systems as a last line of defense. They can also create false positives, which means that the brakes slam even though nothing is there. It happened to Schieldrop's wife while she was driving on the highway.
"That single incident made her not trust the system at all, and now she has fear that it will happen again," said Schieldrop.