WASHINGTON (AP) - Automakers should include as standard equipment in all new cars and light trucks systems that automatically brake or warn drivers to avoid rear-end collisions, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Monday.
The systems could prevent or mitigate more than 80 percent of the rear-end collisions that cause about 1,700 deaths and a half-million injuries annually, the report said.
The board has recommended adoption of collision-avoidance systems a dozen times over the past 20 years, but the report called progress "very limited." Only four of 684 passenger vehicle models in 2014 included such a system as a standard feature.
When the systems are offered as options they are often bundled with non-safety features, making the overall package more expensive.
"You don't pay extra for your seatbelt," NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said in a statement. "And you shouldn't have to pay extra for technology that can help prevent a collision."
Some of the collision-avoidance systems issue a warning to drivers that a collision is imminent, but do not automatically brake. The board recommended manufacturers begin by making the warning system standard, and then add automatic emergency braking after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration completes standards for them.
The board also recommended federal regulators develop tests and standards to rate the performance of each vehicle's collision-avoidance system and to incorporate those results into an expanded government safety rating system.