The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) has applauded Congress for the important car and truck safety provisions added to the Federal Highway bill, for which MEMA actively advocates.
“On behalf of its more than 1,000 members, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) congratulates the U.S. House and Senate conferees for agreeing to a final multi-year federal highway bill, which we expect will be approved and signed into law in the next few days,” stated MEMA’s President and CEO Steve Handschuh.
Filed on Dec. 1, the final conference report for H.R. 22 includes a number of critical provisions that will lead to meaningful safety improvements in both light passenger vehicles and heavy-duty commercial vehicle fleets. Handschuh also noted that “as the voice of motor vehicle components and systems manufacturers, MEMA advocates for the development and adoption of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and is particularly gratified to see Congress recognize these important, life-saving technologies in the final bill.”
MEMA recently urged key leaders of the House and Senate conference committee, including Sen. John Thune, Sen. Bill Nelson, Rep. Fred Upton, Rep. Peter DeFazio and 68 committee conferees, to support two key provisions within H.R. 22, including: 1) enhancements to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), requiring NHTSA to provide information about crash avoidance technologies on the window sticker labels of new cars; and 2) the creation of a program where commercial trucking companies will receive credit in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program for installing advanced safety technology in their fleets.
MEMA testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Oct. 21, and noted that ADAS technologies have the potential to save nearly 10,000 lives annually, prevent 28 percent of all vehicle crashes and save consumers more than $250 billion in societal costs per year when deployed broadly, according to a study recently completed by MEMA and The Boston Consulting Group (click here to view the study). The NCAP and CSA provisions in the highway bill will encourage wider adoption of ADAS technologies in cars and trucks, leading to real, tangible benefits for today’s consumers, MEMA says.
