Half of Ford’s U.S. Models to Get Emergency Braking by End of Next Year

Ford Motor Co. says half its U.S. passenger vehicles will have standard automatic emergency braking before the end of 2019.

The technology mitigates front-end collisions by sensing an impending impact and automatically applying maximum braking if the driver fails to act quickly enough. Most major carmakers, including Ford, agreed two years ago to make the feature standard across their lineups no later than 2022.

Last month the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said four carmakers already equip half or more of their vehicles with the system. That ratio compares with less than 10% for Ford, about 20% for General Motor and 30% for Honda.

Ford currently offers emergency braking in several models as an option. The company’s plan is to make it standard on vehicles as they are refreshed or re-engineered. The 2019 Edge crossover vehicle due this summer will be the first to make the system standard. The all-new Ranger compact pickup truck will follow next spring.​​​​​​