Electronic Car Safety Systems: Tests Reveal a Number of Flaws

As more technologies find their way into vehicles, there is more potential for something to go wrong with these cars. A California car lemon law attorney can provide assistance to car owners whose vehicles fail to function properly because of defects with technology or any vehicle parts.

Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests that some of the defects in car technology could actually have a very serious impact on the safety of motorists. Phys.org reported on the troubling results, which related to electronic car safety systems.

Testing Finds Flaws in Electronic Car Safety Systems

According to Phys.org, the warning about electronic car safety systems comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which released a report called Reality Check.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested five different electronic car safety systems from major car manufacturers including Tesla, Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo. The safety systems were tested both on a track and were tested on public roads.

Unfortunately, the tests revealed that the electronic driver assist systems were often unable to see vehicles that were stopped. Further, there were circumstances where the driver assist systems would have steered the car into a crash in the event that the driver of the vehicle was not paying attention.

The chief research officer for Insurance Institute for Highway Safety stated, “We have found situations where the vehicles under semi-automated control may do things that can put you and your passengers at risk, and so you really need to be on top of it to prevent that from happening.”

One of the scariest of the problems that was discovered occurred with the electronic car safety program installed in two Tesla Vehicles: the Model S and the Model 3.

The system was tested with automatic braking on and with adaptive cruise control turned off. When the Tesla vehicles were traveling at 31 miles per hour, both of the Teslas braked and mitigated a collision – but they still hit a stationary balloon. These two vehicle models were the only ones on the track test performed that failed to stop in time to avoid hitting the balloon. 

However, if adaptive cruise control was also turned on at the time of the test, then the Teslas were able to keep a safe distance from cars and to avoid hitting the balloon. Unfortunately, not all drivers would necessarily operate these features in conjunction, which means motorists could be at greater risk of accident if the Tesla isn't able to stop in time.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also found that all of the vehicles tested, except for the Tesla vehicles, failed to respond when vehicles stopped ahead of them.

If you have a vehicle with a faulty electronic car safety system or if your car has other defects or problems, you need to understand your legal rights as a consumer. A California car lemon law attorney can provide you with help in pursuing a claim and getting an appropriate legal remedy for damages and losses caused by new vehicle defects.  Contact an attorney today to learn more.