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Carmakers, NHTSA to unveil auto-emergency braking agreement tomorrow

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve. Tomorrow, there will be green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and automatic emergency braking for all. Weird combo, we know. But on St. Patty's we can expect an official announcement from a pact of automakers making auto-braking systems standard equipment by 2022. That's per a report from Reuters, which cites three sources familiar with the plans. Originally announced in September 2015 by 10 automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agreement is expected to be even larger when the details are unveiled tomorrow. According to Reuters, the manufacturers of 99 percent of the US domestic market's vehicles will be represented by the new agreement. It's believed that standard AEB systems could prevent thousands of accidents across the country. Expect more on the official announcement when it's made. Related Video:

Toyota won't face recall for Corolla unintended acceleration

Toyota will not face a recall or further investigation into an alleged unintended acceleration problem in the 2006-2010 Corolla. Following months of analysis, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was unable to find a mechanical defect to cause the issue. If there had been a safety campaign to fix the vehicles, it could have affected 1.69 million cars, according to NHTSA. The incident that prompted the investigation occurred in June 2014 when a driver was pulling into a parking spot. The 2010 Corolla allegedly lurched forward under braking and hit an unoccupied Jeep, according to The Detroit News. No one was injured. The owners had the vehicle examined by a Toyota dealer, and it found no problems. They then filed a petition with NHTSA to open a deeper investigation. NHTSA took the family's Corolla and tested it for over 2,000 miles, according to The News. The agency couldn't replicate the problem and found the brakes were capable of keeping the vehicle from moving at full throttle. In their petition, the owners also submitted 143 other unique complaints of this issue in the Corolla, but the Feds found that most of these incidents were due to driver error where the gas or both pedals were accidentally pressed. After taking all of this into account, "NHTSA has concluded that further investigation of the issues raised by the petition is not warranted," the agency wrote in its report. You can read the entire, 23-page explanation for yourself in PDF format, here. INVESTIGATION Subject : Low-speed surging Date Investigation Opened: SEP 19, 2014 Date Investigation Closed: APR 29, 2015 NHTSA Action Number: DP14003 Component(s): VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) TOYOTA COROLLA 2006-2010 Details Manufacturer: Toyota Motor Corporation SUMMARY: The Agency received a petition on September 11, 2014 requesting an investigation into, "low-speed surging in the 2006-2010 Toyota Corolla [vehicles] with ETCS-i, in which the brakes fail to stop the vehicle in time to prevent a crash." NHTSA conducted a technical review of the material cited and provided by the petitioner, material Toyota submitted in response to a NHTSA formal request, interviews with complainants and manufacturer representatives, as well as the results of testing of the complaint vehicle.

Hyundai tops Toyota in annual CarMD Vehicle Health Index

CarMD has released its third annual Vehicle Health Index, which for the 2013 tracked the frequency and cost of repairs for "check engine" problems of 119-million vehicles built between the 2003 and 2013 model years. For the first two years of the index, Toyota ranked at the top of the list, but this year's results see Hyundai moved to number one, pushing Toyota down a spot.
The Korean automaker's rise to the top has been "fueled by its low repair frequency," according to CarMD. Toyota is second to Hyundai in lowest repair frequency, but Toyotas also have the highest average cost of repair. (Interestingly, General Motors vehicles have the lowest average.) Both Toyota's and Hyundai's manufacturer "health" ratings suffered this year, but Toyota took a bigger hit, which also is what helped Hyundai achieve the top ranking.
While Hyundai is the top manufacturer in the index, the 2012 Toyota Camry is the top vehicle. The best-ranking Hyundai was the 2010 Elantra (behind three Nissan models and four Toyotas), which took the number eight spot. Hyundai has six other vehicles in the top 100.