Jaime Jackson Law recently settled a case against a heavy truck manufacturer for choosing not to equip its truck with a collision mitigation system. Our client was stopped, with his turn signal activated, to make a left-hand turn. Their vehicle was struck from behind by a truck causing catastrophic spinal cord injuries. This is a common scenario we all fear; being stopped at a red light, stopped or slowing to make a turn, and we look in our review mirror and pray that tractor trailer coming up fast behind is going to stop. In this case, the truck driver was distracted, the truck did not stop. The result was a horrific collision.
Collision Mitigation Systems
This is precisely the reason collision mitigation systems were first developed and installed on some cars and trucks —going back to 2008 and earlier. The purpose of a collision mitigation system is to avoid or mitigate rear impacts. It consists of safety features including forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking.
Forward Collision Warning (FCW) alerts the driver about a potential collision with another car or object in front of it. The driver is alerted through a visual, audible, or tactile alert to apply the brakes. Depending on the manufacturer of the vehicle, forward collision warning systems use a camera or radar located in the front of the vehicle to detect distances and speed.
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) activates a truck or car’s brakes automatically when the camera or radar for the forward collision warning system detects a potential collision. When the forward collision warning system determines that the distance between vehicles or an object in road is becoming critically short, AEB works without the driver having to touch the brakes. In addition, AEB can engage partial braking and also increase braking force, even if the driver is already applying the brakes.
Collision Mitigation Systems can reduce the severity of a collision or prevent them altogether
In this case, we argued that the severity of the collision would have been significantly reduced if the truck had been equipped with forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking. The manufacturer had these very safety features installed on its other trucks, but not this model truck. Reducing the severity of the collision reduces or eliminates the injuries sustained in the crash. Testing in these collision mitigation cases is required to demonstrate if the crash could have been prevented or significantly reduced. For example, if the truck was traveling at 50 mph and with automatic emergency braking the speed at impact could be reduced to 10 miles per hour, the impact is much less severe. Oftentimes, with a visual and audible forward collision warning to the driver coupled with automatic emergency braking, the vehicle or truck can be brought to a stop before impact preventing the collision and any injury.
The technology is available but many vehicles do still not have Collision Mitigation Systems
Despite these collision mitigation safety systems being available for more than a decade, many vehicles on the road today are not equipped with collision mitigation safety systems. Any rear impact crash that results in catastrophic injuries should be closely screened for a potential products liability case for failure to equip the car or truck with forward collision warning or automatic emergency braking.
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured in a motor vehicle crash, contact Jaime Jackson Law on 717-519-7254 or through our website.
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