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How Collision Avoidance Systems Impact Truck Safety and Liability
By Attorney Michael L. Goldberg
Partner, Fried Goldberg, LLC
Regular cars have had collision avoidance systems for years. This technology has now made its way into tractors as a means of reducing the chances of a tractor-trailer rear-ending a vehicle in front of it.
The technology usually involves a camera system that incorporates a forward-facing dash cam and other cameras in the front of the tractor to track vehicles that come into the tractor-trailer’s lane of travel.
After a vehicle is identified by the collision avoidance system, the system can determine if the tractor-trailer is closing the distance between the vehicles at too high a rate of speed and will initiate a series of actions.
How Collision Avoidance Systems Work
The system operates in three key stages:
Step 1: Audible Warning
The first step is an audible warning notifying the driver that he is traveling too fast and needs to reduce his speed. If the driver brakes sufficiently at this point, the system will not continue with any further actions.
Step 2: Haptic Braking
If the driver does not slow down sufficiently, the system will move to the second step. During haptic braking, the computer system causes the brakes to engage at 50% capacity and usually makes the brake pedal vibrate to help the driver with the braking process and to warn the driver of the imminent harm of a collision. The truck driver can still press the brakes harder to slow down the vehicle at a more rapid rate during the haptic braking process.
If the braking done during this process is sufficient to slow the tractor-trailer enough to avoid a collision with the vehicle in front of it, then the computer system will disengage and will not proceed to the final step.
Step 3: Emergency Braking
If a collision is still imminent, the system will go to the final step, called emergency braking. During emergency braking, the computer system takes over the braking process and engages the brakes at 100%. The system will engage the brakes until the vehicle comes to a complete stop unless the truck driver overrides the system. The method of overriding the emergency braking system is different in each vehicle.
One method of overriding the system is to activate a turn signal. The reason for this is that if the truck driver is changing lanes to avoid a vehicle, the system does not want to keep braking or the tractor-trailer will jackknife.
The truck driver can also override the system by pressing the accelerator pedal, but each system is different as to how far the pedal must be pressed in order to override the system. Some systems can be overridden by simply hitting the accelerator pedal, while other systems require that the pedal be pressed at over 100% (essentially down to the floor) to override the system.
Challenges Truck Drivers Face With Collision Avoidance Systems
Because of the size and weight of the tractor-trailer, the collision avoidance system activates at a much greater distance from a vehicle in front of the tractor-trailer than would happen with a regular car because it takes much more time to stop a tractor-trailer than a car. This creates a number of problems.
Sometimes, truck drivers get frustrated by the audible warning going off frequently and turn down the volume so they can no longer hear it. In this scenario, the first warning has been taken out of the rotation and can cause a driver to miss a chance at slowing down to avoid a collision.
In addition, there can be scenarios where the system reaches emergency braking and locks down the brakes, but the vehicle in front of the tractor-trailer changes lanes, leaving the roadway open for the tractor-trailer to move forward. If the truck driver does not override the system, the tractor-trailer will be brought to a stop even though the roadway ahead is clear.
The stopped tractor-trailer can pose a hazard to motorists approaching from the rear, and if the roadway ahead of the tractor-trailer does not have traffic in it, a motorist may not realize that the vehicle is stopped.
It is crucial that truck drivers are trained on how to override the emergency braking system to avoid a potential collision caused by the system stopping the tractor-trailer in the roadway when there is no reason to come to a stop.
Case Study: Avnish Dalal v. Brown Trucking Company
Fried Goldberg recently handled a case involving this exact scenario, Avnish Dalal v. Brown Trucking Company. In this case, an unknown vehicle slowed in front of a tractor-trailer to wait for traffic in the right lane to clear to exit the interstate. The truck driver did not react to the slowing vehicle in time, and the collision avoidance system reached the final step of emergency braking. The unknown vehicle left the roadway and went off the exit, but the emergency braking system continued to brake and slow down the tractor-trailer even though the roadway was clear.
The truck driver pressed the accelerator pedal in an attempt to move forward but only pressed the pedal at 16% throttle based on a download from the computer system’s electronic control module. This particular collision avoidance system required the driver to press the accelerator pedal by 100% throttle to override the system. Accordingly, the computer system continued to activate the brakes, bringing the tractor-trailer to a stop even though the truck driver was pressing the accelerator pedal.
Our client’s vehicle was behind the tractor-trailer, and when it came to a stop, our client attempted to avoid it by swerving to the right but struck the right rear portion of the trailer, causing catastrophic injuries to him.
A jury found that the truck driver and trucking company were 60% at fault in causing the collision mainly because the truck driver was not trained to override the collision avoidance system and did not know how hard he needed to press the accelerator pedal.
View Truck Accident Verdicts & Settlements
The Role of Data in Truck Accident Cases
Collision avoidance systems also record data related to a vehicle coming into the lane of travel in front of the tractor-trailer, such as the distance of the vehicle from the tractor-trailer, the vehicle’s speed, and the tractor-trailer’s speed.
| Object Detected | Optic Acoustic Warning | Haptic Braking | Emergency Braking | Start, "End of Emergency Braking/Cascade" | End of Emergency Braking/Cascade | Object lost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time (in Seconds) | -1.66 | 0 | 0.49 | 1.95 | 5.72 | 10.76 | 3.93 |
| My Speed (in km/h) | 102 | 102.02 | 101.97 | 88.62 | 4 | 0 | 44.33 |
| My Speed (in mph) | 63.38 | 63.39 | 63.36 | 55.07 | 2.49 | 0 | 27.54 |
| My acceleration (m/s²) | 0 | 0 | 0 | -5.7 | -6.4 | 0 | -6.1 |
| My Steering angle (in rad) | N/A | 0.08 | 0.1 | -0.05 | -0.49 | 0.48 | N/A |
| My Steering angle (in degrees) | N/A | 4.59 | 5.54 | -2.85 | -27.81 | 27.25 | N/A |
| Road Curvature (1/km) | -0.38 | -0.17 | -0.11 | 0.37 | 0.02 | 0 | -0.87 |
| ABS Activity | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
| ESP Activity | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Tracked Object Speed (in km/h) | 80.54 | 66.7 | 60.93 | 46 | 96.93 | NaN | 45.33 |
| Tracked Object Speed (in mph) | 50.05 | 41.44 | 37.86 | 28.58 | 60.23 | NaN | 28.17 |
| Tracked Object Acceleration (m/s²) | -1.2 | -2.4 | -3 | -3 | 1.1 | NaN | 1.2 |
| Distance to tracked object (in m) | 67.46 | 53.91 | 48.59 | 29.12 | 82.56 | NaN | 15.91 |
| Distance to tracked object (in ft) | 221.33 | 176.86 | 159.43 | 95.55 | 270.87 | NaN | 52.19 |
| Lateral offset of tracked object (in m) | 0.2 | -0.6 | 0 | 0.4 | -2 | NaN | -1.6 |
| Lateral offset of tracked object (in ft) | 0.66 | -1.97 | 0 | 1.31 | -6.56 | NaN | -5.25 |
| ABA Availability (Y/N) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Driver Activity Occurred | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
We used this data to show the failures of the truck driver to react to the vehicle and to prove how the collision could have been avoided if the truck driver had pressed the accelerator pedal by 100% throttle. You should always have an expert download the data to see what it shows.
Why Truck Accident Investigations Must Include Collision Avoidance Data
In truck accident cases involving collision avoidance systems, downloading and analyzing system data is critical. The right legal team will ensure this evidence is properly preserved and examined to build a strong case for injured victims.
