New AAA Testing on 2026 Vehicles shows Limitations

PORTLAND, Ore., – Automatic emergency braking (AEB) technology in vehicles has advanced to address more complex crash situations, including those that occur at intersections. But new testing done by AAA shows that these technologies can be spotty in different intersection crash scenarios.

Here are links to the fact sheet, full report, and b-roll video. Photos of the testing are below.

Automatic Emergency Braking technologies were originally designed to help prevent or lessen the severity of rear end crashes. If your vehicle is following another vehicle, and that vehicle in front of your vehicle stops or slows down, AEB can slow or stop your vehicle.

Intersection automatic emergency braking (intersection AEB) is an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) feature that uses forward-facing sensors intended to detect a potential collision at an intersection and autonomously apply the brakes when an imminent impact is identified. A growing number of automakers are now offering intersection automatic emergency braking as standard or optional equipment.

These newer intersection AEB systems can work to prevent crashes in intersections, especially in situations involving a vehicle making a left-hand turn in front of the vehicle with AEB. However, performance of intersection AEB can fail in other situations in intersections, for example, when a vehicle enters the path of the vehicle with AEB from a side road.

“Intersections can be complex driving situations, and current advanced driver assistance systems, including intersection advanced emergency braking, don’t always work well in preventing crashes in intersections. The technology is improving, but drivers need to realize that while these technologies can be helpful in some situations, they don’t work in all scenarios,” says Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho. “No current technologies can replace an attentive and alert driver.”

AAA conducted testing of how current AEB systems perform in intersections. AAA partnered with the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center to test four 2026 model-year vehicles with intersection AEB as standard equipment. The vehicles tested were the 2026 Chevrolet Equinox, 2026 Ford Explorer, 2026 Hyundai Tucson, and 2026 Tesla Model Y.

AAA’s research examined four questions:

How do evaluated intersection AEB systems perform when a vehicle executes a right-hand turn into the path of the test vehicle? (This is the turn-into-path scenario.)

How do evaluated intersection AEB systems perform when a vehicle executes a left turn across the path of the test vehicle under the Euro NCAP CCFtap configuration? (This is the turn-across-path scenario.)

Is turn-across-path performance maintained when protocol-specific conditions are relaxed, including testing without turn signal activation and use of manual steering?

How do the results from 2026 model year vehicles equipped with intersection AEB compare with AAA’s 2022 evaluation of vehicles with standard AEB systems that did not include intersection-specific functionality?

Here are detailed descriptions of each scenario:

Closed-course testing covered two intersection crash scenarios: one turn-into-path scenario and three configurations of a left-turn-across-path scenario. A robotic soft vehicle target represented the other vehicle.

Turn-into-path: The robotic soft car made a right-hand turn into the path of the tested vehicle, which was traveling straight. The test vehicle traveled straight at 30 mph while the soft vehicle target turned right into its path from a perpendicular road at 5 mph.

Here is a turn-into-path GIF

https://info.oregon.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/resized-AEBGif-TurnIntoPath.gif

Here is another turn-into-path GIF

https://info.oregon.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/TurnIntoPath_.gif

GIF Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Testing 11-2026

Turn-across-path — standardized Euro NCAP configuration: With the turn signal activated, a steering robot guided the test vehicle through a left turn at 15 km/h (9.3 mph) across the path of the soft vehicle target traveling at 30 km/h (18.6 mph). This test followed standardized Euro NCAP evaluations.

Here is a turn-across-path GIF

https://info.oregon.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/TurnacrossPath_.gif

GIF Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Testing 11-2026

Turn-across-path — no turn signal: With the turn signal off, a steering robot guided the test vehicle to make a left turn at 15 km/h (9.3 mph) across the path of an oncoming soft vehicle target traveling at 30 km/h (18.6 mph). Since drivers don’t always utilize turn signals, AAA wanted to test this scenario.

Turn-across-path — manual steering: The test was repeated at the same speeds with the turn signal activated, but a test driver manually steered the test vehicle through the left turn instead of the steering robot.

Here are the key results for these four test scenarios:

Turn-into-path: AAA’s turn-into-path test revealed a significant capability gap. One vehicle avoided contact in every run, while the other three vehicles struck the soft car in every run.

Turn-across-path — standardized Euro NCAP: With the turn signal activated and robotic steering, all four tested vehicles avoided a collision in every run.

Turn-across-path — no turn signal: Removing the turn signal exposed a limitation in one vehicle: that vehicle provided neither a forward collision warning nor automatic braking and struck the soft car in all runs. AAA felt it was important to test without a turn signal engaged, since drivers don’t always use turn signals.

Turn-across-path — manual steering: With the turn signal activated, replacing robotic steering with a test driver did not change collision-avoidance results. All four vehicles warned the driver, applied the brakes, and avoided the soft car in every run.

AAA’s Recommendations:

Automakers should work with researchers, regulators, and safety organizations to strengthen intersection AEB performance across a broader range of crash scenarios and real-world conditions, including the turn-into path scenario.

AAA is sharing these results with automakers so that these issues can be addressed in newer versions of AEB.

Regulators and safety organizations can support continued progress by collaborating with automakers and researchers to broaden vehicle testing protocols to include more intersection scenarios and real-world conditions.

Drivers can use intersection AEB as an added layer of protection while staying attentive behind the wheel, but drivers need to realize that this technology does not work in some scenarios. When entering an intersection, consider “covering the brake” by placing your right foot just above the brake pedal, with your heel on the floor. Be aware that nearby drivers may turn into your path and always be ready to brake or steer if needed.

“Advanced driver assistance systems can work well in some situations, but no technology works 100% of the time. Drivers always need to be attentive when behind the wheel, and realize that these technologies can assist drivers in some situations but can’t drive the vehicle independently,” says Dodds.

Previous AAA Research

In 2022, AAA evaluated four vehicles equipped with standard AEB systems that did not include manufacturer-identified intersection AEB functionality. In two common intersection crash scenarios, the systems did not provide alerts or automatic braking during any of the test runs. Read AAA’s 2022 research.

Here are photos from the AAA testing

The four vehicles AAA tested (from left) are the 2026 Hyundai Tucson, 2026 Chevrolet Equinox, 2026 Tesla Model Y, and 2026 Ford Explorer.
This is the steering robot which was installed in the test vehicles.
This is one of the test vehicles with the soft car target.
This is another test vehicle with the soft car target.
This is the testing equipment in a test vehicle.
Another shot of the testing equipment.
The Chevrolet Equinox hit the soft car target in the turn-into-path scenario.
Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Testing 11-2026
The Ford Explorer hit the soft car target in the turn-into-path scenario.
Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Testing 11-2026
The Hyundai Tucson and all of the other test vehicles avoided hitting the soft car target in the turn-across-path standardized Euro NCAP scenario with the turn signal activated and robotic steering.
Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Testing 11-2026
The 2026 Tesla Model Y and all of the test vehicles avoided hitting the soft car target in the turn-across-path scenario with a driver replacing robotic steering and the turn signal activated.

Methodology

AAA performed 74 closed-course runs conducted under controlled daytime conditions. Five runs were planned for each vehicle and configuration. If a vehicle provided neither a forward collision warning nor automatic braking in the first three runs of a configuration, testing of that configuration was stopped to reduce the risk of damage. Complete methodology and detailed results are available in the full report.

AAA news releases, high resolution images, broadcast-quality video, fact sheets and podcasts are available on the AAA NewsRoom at NewsRoom.AAA.com.

Find local news releases at https://oregon.aaa.com/community/media/media-contacts.html

For more info go www.AAA.com.  AAA Oregon/Idaho provides more than 917,000 members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services, and is an affiliate of AAA National, serving more than 65 million members in North America.