2 days ago
New EU-mandated car safety tech can be 'irrational, erratic and put lives at risk', experts warn
Drivers have been warned latest models in showrooms feature new - EU mandated - safety technology that can be distracting and even dangerous.
What Car? has carried out tests of the system installed in six brand new motors and came to the conclusion they can be 'irrational and erratic' and 'put lives at risk'.
This is because important safety systems frequently raise false alarms and can increase the risk of the accidents they're supposed to prevent.
Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning (DDAW) systems - fitted to all new models under EU rules introduced last summer - use in-car cameras that monitor the driver to detect if they're falling asleep or distracted at the wheel.
While not a legal requirement for models sold in the UK, car makers are equipping Britain-bound vehicles with the feature anyway to reduce manufacturing costs.
And just last week, Labour hinted it would likely adopt the same EU rules that require all new cars to have DDAW systems as well as 18 other safety features, including black box recorders and automatic speed limiters.
However, experts at What Car? said motorists are likely to turn off as many of these safety features as possible because they will be infuriated by their frequent 'bong' warning sounds and signs for no reason.
DDAW systems use in-car cameras that monitor the driver's eyes and posture to detect if they're falling asleep or distracted at the wheel
Under the EU's 'New Vehicle General Safety Regulation' - also known as GSR2 or Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 - all new models from 7 July 2024 must have a host of standard-fit safety items.
This demands that all motor vehicles must have a suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), including the likes of Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA), Emergency Lane Keeping Systems (ELKS) and driver drowsiness and attention monitors.
Currently, only a small percentage of the latest models on sale in Britain have these, though this will dramatically increase over the coming months.
While there have already been major criticisms of some of the mandated features - especially ISA speed limiters - What Car?'s latest investigation looked specifically at DDAW systems.
These have been available in many premium models in recent years. Volvo - a pioneer for vehicle safety - introduced it on its EX90 in 2022.
However, all new model entering the market from now on will have a similar system to identify if a motorist isn't paying attention to the road ahead.
To find out if they're effective, it evaluated six new cars from different brands to understand if they improve safety or instead increase frustration behind the wheel.
It found three of them so annoying and distracting that it said it would expect drivers to turn it off - which, in itself, is no easy feat.
That's because under the EU regulation, these ADAS features must be activated every time a car is started.
While motorists can turn them off, they will need to deactivate each - or a group - of the safety features before every journey.
Doing so in some models can be a painfully arduous task, with the safety tech buried deep among sub-settings in touchscreen infotainment systems.
Almost a third of drivers polled in a recent survey said they habitually turn off the DDAW feature in their cars.
What does DDAW do?
The occupant monitoring feature uses a cabin-facing camera for direct driver monitoring.
If it detects a driver looking away from the road for too long, or their head dropping as they fall asleep or become ill, it triggers warnings.
These can be visual alerts on the digital instrument cluster telling motorists to keep their eyes on the road, loud acoustic beeps and bongs through the car's speakers, or vibrations of the steering wheel - or a combination of all three.
How the tech was assessed
To find out how well their driver monitoring systems work, What Car? drove all six cars twice around a 10-mile test loop that replicated rural A-roads and country lanes.
On the first lap, the driver kept their eyes on the road ahead, and on the second lap the driver performed four actions that could be deemed distracted driving: they looked across at the infotainment screen, leaned towards the infotainment screen, looked out of the driver's side window and looked downwards into their lap, each one for three seconds.
The worst-performing system was in the Chinese Leapmotor C10 - a family SUV that costs from £32,750 (with the brand's £3,750 discount applied in response to the Government's Electric Car Grant).
The family motor, which has just arrived in UK showrooms, issued three audio and visual warnings when the test driver was looking at the road ahead, and only went off twice when the distracted driving manoeuvres were done.
The system in an MG HS - a rival Chinese SUV starting from £29,245 - also provided two false alarms on the first lap, although it did issue alerts for all four distracted driving moves.
In contrast, the system in the £50,080 Mazda CX-80 worked seamlessly, providing warnings during every potentially dangerous manoeuvre, but not when the driver was concentrating.
This means the driver wouldn't necessarily even know it's there until it is needed, which is the ideal situation for such systems.
The system in an MG HS - a rival Chinese SUV starting from £29,245 - also provided two false alarms on the first lap, although it did issue alerts for all four distracted driving moves, What Car? found
Not all DDAW systems are poor, though. The feature in the £50,080 Mazda CX-80 worked seamlessly and 'provided warnings during every potentially dangerous manoeuvre, but not when the driver was concentrating', the expert test team said
Some safety systems are a persistent annoyance
What Car?'s test team concluded that the 'continual stream of beeps and visual alerts' given by the overly intrusive cars had become so annoying during the tests that it expects drivers will likely turn them off at the start of each journey.
This means the system specifically designed to bolster road safety is potentially hampering it.
Latest road casualty stats published by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2023 show that more than a third (34.9 per cent) of fatal crashes in Britain are caused by 'distraction or impairment'.
What Car? consumer editor Claire Evans, said: 'A well-engineered driver monitoring system is an important safety aid that should help to stop drivers from becoming dangerously distracted by focusing on the infotainment touchscreen for too long, and from breaking the law by using a handheld mobile phone.
'However, it's crucial that car makers work harder to ensure their systems only intervene when there is a genuine risk of an accident and minimise the number of false alarms.'
Claire also says car safety organisation - including crash-test body Euro NCAP - need to introduce 'more stringent testing of these systems'.
What Car? has urged Euro NCAP to 'penalise systems that are poorly integrated into cars instead of simply rewarding manufacturers for including the technology'.
Will driver monitoring systems be standard in the UK?
While Britain is yet to formally adopt the EU's GSR2 rules, car makers are already installing them in UK-bound models to keep manufacturing costs down.
And Sir Keir Starmer's Government said last month that it is likely to apply the regulation to British-sold motors to prevent higher costs of production being passed on to buyers.
Lord Hendy, Minister of State for the Department for Transport told parliament that the government 'takes an explicit presumption in favour of alignment' in regard to how cars are manufactured.
He added that the Government would be 'considering options for requiring the fitment of the safety technologies mandated by the EU's general safety regulation' and would discuss these with individual manufacturers, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and the National Franchise Dealers Association.
Across Europe, GRS2 regulations have been introduced over a three-phase period, beginning in July 2022.
However, from 7 July 2024, all new models entering production must have all 19 mandatory safety features.
The EU rules stipulate that ISA cannot be permanently disabled and instead must automatically activate each time the vehicle starts. It is then up to the driver if they want to turn it off before each journey.
EU mandated new vehicle safety technologies through the General Safety Regulation (GSR2)
Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA): recognises traffic signs and provides an overspeed warning. It warns the driver when the speed limit is exceeded to increase speed limit compliance and reduce the severity of collisions.
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB): a collision avoidance feature that scans the forward path of the vehicle for potential impact targets and applies braking to avoid or mitigate a collision.
Driver Drowsiness & Attention Warning (DDAW): an occupant monitoring feature using a driver-facing camera for direct driver monitoring. If it detects a driver looking away from the road for too long, it triggers warnings.
Emergency Lane Keeping System (ELKS): a collision avoidance feature using forward-facing cameras and RADARs to prevent a vehicle leaving the lane of travel.
Alcohol Interlock Installation Facilitation (AIIF): allowing for the application of aftermarket alcohol interlock devices in vehicles.
Event Data Recorder (EDR): a black box in all cars that records and stores vehicle data shortly before, during, and immediately after a road traffic collision.
Electronic Stability Programme (ESP): helps to prevent a loss of control in cornering and during emergency steering by stabilising the car if it veers off its intended path. This is generally already fitted to most new models.
Emergency Stop Signal (ESS): when brakes are forcefully applied, the rear indicator lights will flash to alert other vehicles behind the car.
Reversing Detection Systems (RD): alerts the driver to the presence of people or objects at the rear of the vehicle with the primary aim of avoiding collisions when reversing.
Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS): monitors tyre air pressure and provides feedback in real-time to the driver to prevent accidents caused by under-inflated tyres.
Cybersecurity: addresses the increase in connected vehicles on European roads which require robust cybersecurity to prevent them from being stolen.
Systems to replace driver control: includes 'Level Three' autonomous features which will pave the way for Automated Vehicles to be adopted in the EU.
Motorists already hate - and turn off - these features
With cars on Britain's roads installed with one, a handful, or all of these 19 safety features, drivers have already voiced their concerns about them being too intrusive.
A recent poll of 1,500 UK drivers by Which? found that many are being frustrated by the tech.
The consumer watchdog found that speed assist is being switched off by nearly half (46 per cent) of users who have it built into their motors.
Most people surveyed said they had disabled this function because they felt they didn't need it.
Lane-keep assist was the second safety feature most likely to be disabled according to Which?'s survey (42 per cent).
Half of those who said they switch it off did so because they found it either dangerous, annoying or distracting.
On-board cameras and sensors detect lane and road-edge markings and manoeuvre the driver into staying in their lane, but this may be flawed while driving on narrow roads and can fail to account for cyclists or parked cars.
Last year, Which? and This is Money received hundreds of complaints from MG4 EV owners who told both us and the consumer watchdog that the system in their Chinese electric cars would steer them into danger rather than help them to avoid it.
The third safety feature drivers were likely to switch off according to the Which? survey was emergency braking (34 per cent).
Some 32 per cent turn off DDAW, the study found.
Three in 10 motorists also told Which? they switch off their blind-spot monitoring feature because they didn't need it, or they found it distracting or annoying.
