“The successful completion of this milestone shows what can be achieved when automakers and safety advocates work together toward our common goal of eliminating as many crashes as possible,” IIHS President David Harkey said.

The commitment in 2016 was lobbied by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) agreed. As a result automakers promised to equip at least 95% of cars and trucks up to 8500 pounds with the technology.

“Car buyers today will find that almost any new vehicle they buy comes standard with a city-speed AEB system, typically with pedestrian detection. This is significant progress, and it sets the stage for the strong federal safety standards that have been proposed,” said William Wallace, associate director of safety policy for Consumer Reports.

To fulfill their commitment, manufacturers must attest that the AEB system on their vehicles meets certain performance standards. The forward collision warning feature must meet a subset of NHTSA’s current requirements on the timing of driver alerts. The AEB must either be able to slow the vehicle by at least 10 mph in one of two tests conducted at 12 and 25 mph or by 5 mph at both speeds — the level of performance needed for an advanced rating in the Institute’s original vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention evaluation.

“Thanks to this cooperation, automakers made this safety feature standard equipment years before there was a legal mandate requiring them to do so,” Harkey said. “Now that a regulation is on the horizon, the progress that we’ve made will be set in stone and expanded on to generate even bigger benefits.”