Modern cars beep, ding at you, and flash warnings across their various screens in ways that would send someone from the early 2000s into a coma. Sure that can get annoying, but these warnings and the automatic emergency braking system that engages soon after are getting much better at preventing crashes altogether. AAA has tested AEB systems since 2014, which like it or not, is a decade ago now. Over those somehow both achingly long and painfully short 10 years, my frown lines have significantly deepened and the light in my eyes has begun to fade, but at least AEB systems have experienced steady improvement. AAA’s latest study found that new AEB systems will prevent crashes 100 percent of the time, while just a handful of years ago they only worked 51 percent of the time.
Automatic emergency braking systems use cameras and other sensors to, as the name insinuates, detect an imminent collision, and autonomously apply the brakes to prevent the crash. The efficacy of these systems periodically comes into question, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says in typical front-to-rear crashes, automatic emergency braking is a proven winner. To compare new 2024 models and old AEB systems on models from 2017 to 2018, AAA simulated crash scenarios by driving the test vehicles at a stopped dummy car five times at 12, 25, and 35 mph on a closed course.
The findings show that new collision avoidance systems vastly outperform systems from six to seven years ago. Whereas the older systems became less and less effective as scenario speeds increased, modern systems were 100 percent successful at preventing collisions across the board. The older systems measured were 73 percent effective at preventing a collision at 12 mph, 47 percent effective at preventing a collision at 25 mph, and just 33 percent effective at preventing a collision at 35 mph.
Three models were evaluated: 2018 and 2024 Subaru Outbacks, 2018 and 2024 Nissan Rogues, and 2017 and 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokees. The 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee struggled the most, hitting the dummy vehicle four out of five times at 12 mph, three out of five times at 25 mph, and it crashed hard five out of five times at 35 mph. The 2018 Nissan Rogue prevented all five collisions at 12 mph, but failed to prevent any collisions at 25 mph, and spectacularly failed to prevent any collisions from 35 mph speeds. Impressively, both generations of Subaru Outback prevented a collision 100 percent of the time at each speed interval.
AAA also tested each 2024 model at 45 mph where the 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee did a good job of drastically reducing impact speeds, but still hit the dummy car five times at speeds between 4.97 and 0.20 mph. The 2024 Nissan Rogue did perfectly, and prevented five out of five collisions from 45 mph. AAA decided to continue testing with the 2018 Subaru Outback as well as the 2024 model since both models performed perfectly in the lower-speed tests. Both Outbacks prevented 100 percent of collisions from 45 mph.
The highest speed that AAA evaluated AEB performance at was 55 mph, and it only evaluated the 2024 Nissan Rogue and both 2018 and 2024 Subaru Outbacks since they all passed the 45 mph test. The Rogue failed to even issue a forward collision warning from 55 mph, so the vehicle did nothing to mitigate the collision, thus failing. The 2018 Outback issued a forward collision warning all five runs from 55 mph, but only initiated automatic braking twice, and never prevented a collision. The 2024 Outback performed flawlessly from 55 mph, issuing both a forward collision warning and automatically braking and successfully preventing a 55 mph impact with a stopped car.
While this AAA study only evaluated three models, they are three very popular family-oriented models. It’s encouraging to see that newer generations of vehicles are implementing more effective collision avoidance technologies, and even more encouraging to know that automakers are working every day to improve upon even the newest systems. Real-world accident scenarios vary nearly infinitely, so don’t think that your car’s AEB is perfect, even if you drive a 2024 Subaru Outback. As always, stay engaged while driving and avoid risky behaviors like texting, speeding, or trying to change your car’s ambient lighting color while driving.