lane departure warning systems and forward collision warning systems in 2011. The agency has also invited public comment on its plan.
Lane departure warning systems warn the drivers when they are leaving a lane. In some cases, the vehicle automatically shifts the car back into the lane, unless the driver overrides it. Forward collision warning systems alert drivers that they are approaching a car or an object. It uses sensors that sense approaching impediments and in some cases automatically applies brakes to avoid collision.
Both technologies significantly boost the vehicle safety, according to safety experts, by reducing more than 40,000 traffic fatalities and 2.5 million injuries in vehicle crashes every year.
These two features are being equipped in luxury and high-end cars. However, owing to their very high price, these two technologies are not being widely used.
NHTSA has developed a performance test for frontal crash and lane departure warning systems that the agency plans to make a part of its revamped New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) starting in the 2011 model year.
