The objective of this study was to examine how pre-crash systems (PCS) can use on-board radar systems and cameras to monitor vehicle position relative to other leading vehicles and automatically activate brakes without driver input to mitigate severity in rear-end and other crashes. Researchers collected data from the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) and the Crashworthiness Data System (CDS) years 1993 to 2008 and used statistics from 1,406 rear-end striking crashes to calculate the potential safety benefits of pre-crash braking systems if these systems were applied to real-world crashes nationwide.

The analysis of potential benefits assumed total market penetration with all collisions plastic in nature and collinear through the center of gravity of each vehicle traveling in the same direction. Modeled scenarios had the lead vehicle decelerating, stopped, or moving at a lesser speed, but located in the same travel lane as the striking vehicle. A dose response model was used to estimate driver injury as a function of crash severity based on the change in velocity and assumed seat belt usage.