The organisation’s comments follow the announcement of Euro NCAP’s first tests on AEB systems, which were collected from approved test centres around Europe and saw half of the tests carried out by Thatcham, the British motor insurers' automotive research facility. In addition, Euro NCAP is to incorporate the AEB test as part of its overall vehicle safety standard in 2014.

Peter Shaw, chief executive of Thatcham Research said: ‘We expect that, by 2016, cars will find it increasingly difficult to achieve a 5-star rating unless they have this powerful safety measure. UK insurers are already offering favourable insurance groupings on vehicles fitted with AEB as standard – a clear sign of its effectiveness.’

‘The evidence from our testing is undeniable, and combined with a growing body of real world research and evidence we firmly believe that AEB and other ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) have a critical role to play in avoiding both common low-speed bumps that can cause injuries such as whiplash, and mitigating injuries and fatalities from medium-speed crashes,’ said Shaw. 

The company's comments follow its recent announcement that multiple vehicle accidents could be mitigated or avoided altogether with the widespread use of new automatic braking technologies. The statement followed the 130-vehicle pile-up on the Isle of Sheppey, with Thatcham Research's Peter Shaw saying: 'We firmly believe that AEB and other ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) have a critical role to play in avoiding both common low-speed shunts that can cause injuries such as whiplash, and mitigating some of the horrendous injuries and fatalities that we see as result of higher speed pile-ups.’

‘Currently, some 20% of new cars in the UK have an AEB system available and if that rate of development continues we would hope that, by 2030, multiple-vehicle collisions could be history.’