The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently announced new standards for its Top Safety Pick + designation, its highest award. The organization will soon require vehicle technologies that can detect and warn against risky behaviors as part of the testing process.
IIHS president David Harkey said, “As part of our 30×30 vision to cut road deaths 30 percent by 2030, we are committed to addressing the risky – and often illegal – behavior that underlies most fatalities today. One way we plan to do that is to leverage our ratings and awards programs to encourage automakers to adopt this new class of safety technology, just as we got them to improve vehicle structures, airbags, and collision avoidance systems.”
While the IIHS announcement references blood alcohol monitors as a way to prevent drunk driving, it’s unlikely that we’ll see that technology anytime soon. What’s more likely is a technology that monitors the driver’s eye movements to detect impairment or distraction, and some vehicles already offer driver distraction monitoring.
The first technology to be required for a Top Safety Pick + award will be intelligent speed assistance (ISA), which can issue speed warnings and even slow the vehicle, in some cases. The IIHS will begin rating ISA in 2027 and it will be required for the awards after that.
[Images: IIHS, Chevrolet]
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