Paccar Makes Collison Avoidance Systems Standard on Some Peterbilt, Kenworth Trucks

Truck maker Paccar is making automated safety systems standard on some of its Peterbilt and Kenworth big rigs, the company announced Wednesday at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville.

The Peterbilt Model 579 will come standard with the Bendix Wingman Advanced system in mid-2017, which includes in-lane object recognition and adaptive cruise control with braking and collision mitigation technology.

Along with the Wingman Advanced, Peterbilt started offering the Bendix Wingman Fusion automated safety systems on its 2016 trucks.

Kenworth, another Paccar company, will offer the Wingman Fusion on its T680 Advantage commercial trucks.

The systems help drivers reduce the incidents of rear-end collisions, Peterbilt said in a statement.

Since 2015, the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that manufacturers make collision avoidance systems standard equipment in newly-manufactured vehicles for both commercial and passenger vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 1,700 people die in rear-end crashes and approximately 500,000 more are injured each year. Of this number, the federal agency estimates that 80 percent of these deaths and injuries may have been avoided had vehicles, including passenger cars been equipped with a collision avoidance system.

Under an agreement between automakers and safety regulators, light vehicles, but not heavy trucks, will have collision avoidance systems with automatic emergency braking as standard equipment by the 2022 model year.

Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that such systems would reduce rear-end crashes by 40 percent.