The research was carried out by Euro NCAP and ANCAP, the independent safety bodies for Europe and Australasia, and  showed a 38% overall reduction in real-world, rear-end crashes for vehicles fitted with low speed AEB compared to a sample of equivalent vehicles with no AEB. There was no statistical difference found between urban (≤60km/h) and rural (>60km/h) speed zones.

Dr Anders Lie, the group chairman from the Swedish Transport Administration, commented: “The meta-analysis approach used in this analysis is a unique academic contribution to the evaluation of vehicle safety technologies internationally and proved to be reliable with robust findings. Clearly, at this level of effectiveness, low speed AEB is potentially an important active safety technology and widespread fitment through the vehicle fleet should be encouraged in the interest of improved vehicle safety.”

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP, said: “These findings strongly support our decision to make AEB technology a key discriminator in the safety rating of new vehicles. Through VVSMA, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness in reducing real world crashes of the advanced systems that are promoted in order to validate and improve the overall star rating.” 

Commenting on the report, Andrew Miller, chief technical officer of the UK's Thatcham Research and president of Euro NCAP said: “Clearly, at this level of effectiveness, low speed AEB is potentially a hugely important active safety technology and widespread fitment through the vehicle fleet should be encouraged in the interest of improved vehicle safety – a key recommendation since 2014.

“These findings strongly support Euro NCAP’s decision to make AEB technology a key discriminator in the safety rating of new vehicles – which is reflected in insurance group ratings. And from next year, Euro NCAP will include in its assessments AEB systems that recognise pedestrians."

Thatcham Research yesterday led a group of top fleet operators in a Round Table discussion at the Silverstone Fleet Show on the theme: Towards the World’s First Crash-Free Fleet.

The discussion will be reported in the June issue of Fleet World and will be part of a more extensive report from Thatcham in the autumn.