Republicans question value of automatic braking, rear-seat reminders

Lawmakers will take aim at vehicle-safety mandates in a coming Senate hearing, targeting some auto-industry regulations once considered too sacrosanct to attack. 

Senate Republicans in January plan to criticize requirements for safety technology, such as automatic emergency braking and alarms to remind drivers that a child is in the back seat, arguing they are ineffective and will unnecessarily drive up the cost of cars, according to people familiar with the situation.

They aim to head off future requirements touted by safety advocates and argue instead for advancing autonomous vehicle technology.

Chief executives of Detroit’s three automakers and a senior Tesla executive have been summoned to appear at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation—set for Jan. 14—to explain why vehicles have become so expensive. General Motors and Ford Motor are weighing whether to send their CEOs to the hearing, spokespeople said; Jeep-maker Stellantis declined to comment.

Sticker shock is hitting car buyers as the U.S. broadly faces what many consider to be a growing affordability crisis. The average price of a new vehicle hit $50,000 this fall, up from closer to $38,000 before the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, all facets of car ownership—from repairs to loans to insurance—have become costlier.

“Americans have been clear that they are hyper-focused on affordability,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), who chairs the committee, said in announcing the hearing.

Vehicle safety advocates argue such mandates save lives and don’t go far enough when some 40,000 people a year die on American roads.

“Regulation is the best way to make sure everybody’s got this technology that’s highly effective,” said a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. 

The hearing comes ahead of next year’s reauthorization of a $300 billion highway bill that provides money for road and rail projects and funding for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

Republicans on the committee plan to contend that the most effective vehicle-safety advancements—seat belts and steps to improve vehicle crashworthiness—occurred between the 1960s and 1980s, and that benefits have dwindled since, the people said. Safety technology, such as sensors, can be ineffective and costly to repair, they will argue.

The push comes after the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers succeeded this year in unwinding so-called electric vehicle mandates and other environmental protections that helped usher in the now-sputtering EV movement.

Pinning down the factors behind rising car costs is complicated.

Republicans and major automakers, in advocating the end of some of the most-stringent federal and state clean-air and fuel-economy mandates this year, cited their high costs and that such regulations forced carmakers to shift toward pricier electric vehicles. The January hearing also is expected to address costs associated with clean-air regulations.

American drivers also have shifted to bigger vehicles with more costly creature comforts, such as heated steering wheels and vented seats. The top-selling vehicle in the U.S. is Ford’s F-150 pickup, which can top $70,000. 

While the Trump administration has spared U.S. automakers much of the brunt of President Trump’s trade war—and the car companies have largely swallowed added costs—analysts say some costs are invariably being passed on to consumers.

Automakers have long clashed with safety advocates, who are pushing companies to leverage new technology to prevent vehicle deaths.  

NHTSA has rules mandating certain technology, while automakers over the years have agreed to implement safety features voluntarily to pre-empt legislative mandates, such as rear-seat alerts intended to prevent child heatstroke deaths.

One of the more controversial safety mandates is for auto-braking technology systems, which use sensors, cameras and software to detect potential crashes and automatically apply the brakes. NHTSA last year required automatic braking systems in new cars starting in 2029; automakers have tried to block the rule from taking effect, arguing NHTSA’s standards are impractical and could cause rear-end collisions by braking before drivers expect. The agency said this year that it was considering extending the deadline.

Critics, including the auto industry’s main trade group, argue that specific mandates included in a Biden-era law are impractical and potentially dangerous. Supporters point to data showing the technology could prevent hundreds of deaths a year.

Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com