Thatcham Research has provided a useful explanation of new EU vehicle safety regulation and what impact they will have on both drivers and the aftermarket. 

The European Union’s ‘New Vehicle General Safety Regulation’, also known as GSR2 came into effect across Europe in July. It amends the minimum performance standards (known as type approval) for motor vehicles in the EU, adding new required Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). 

The additions include; Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning (DDAW), and Emergency Lane Keeping Systems (ELKS). 

The aim is to make the use of these active crash avoidance systems more commonplace and thus reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in accident in Europe each year.  

The technology mandated by this directive is already found in most new cars made in Europe and although GSR2 does not strictly apply in the UK, any cars made their will need to meet the standard in oreder to be sold in other European countries. 

Northern Ireland will adopt GSR2 requirements following the EU type approval process due to the Northern Ireland Protocol.  

GSR2 first applied from July 2022 in ‘Phase One’ which mandated additional technical requirements on new vehicle models, without adding new features. ‘Phase Two’ applied to new vehicle models from July 2022, but from July 2024 applies to existing vehicle models. This mandates ADAS features such as ISA, AEB, DDAW, and ELKS. ‘Phase Three’ applies from July 2026, mandating an increase in scope to include Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) and additional pedestrian and cyclist AEB. 

The regulation only applies to vehicles built after the cut off dates. No retrofit or software changes are required for any vehicles built before Wednesday 6 July 2022, or existing models built up to Sunday 7 July 2024. 

Thatcham also looks at the implications of the mandated technology as follows:  

Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA)  - This recognises traffic signs and provides an overspeed warning in conjunction with map data. This feature is already fitted to many pre-GSR2 vehicles. It is usually an audible warning such as a chime or a visual flashing light.  A few select vehicles implement feedback via the accelerator pedal. ISA can be switched off or temporarily overridden by the driver at any time by continuing to apply pressure to the accelerator pedal. GSR2 requirements mandate that the feature is automatically switched back on every time the car is started.  

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) – This is a collision avoidance feature using forward-facing cameras, RADARs and potentially other sensor technologies like LIDAR to prevent collisions. It scans the forward path of the vehicle for potential impact targets and applies braking to avoid or mitigate a collision. It applies to specific scenarios, such as car-to-car, car-to-pedestrian and car-to-cyclist in different orientations.  

AEB has been shown in studies to reduce car-to-car rear end collisions by around 50% and car-to-pedestrian collisions by around 30%. It also provides impact mitigation where a collision cannot be avoided, reducing the severity of injuries. It causes no noticeable impact to drivers, operating in the background with an extremely low false event rate. 

GSR2 Phase 2 mandates car-to-car rear and crossing pedestrian collision scenarios to be supported by every new vehicle. Currently 92% of new vehicles sold already possess this functionality, driven by consumer ratings such as Euro NCAP. 

Driver Drowsiness & Attention Warning (DDAW) – This a monitoring feature using a driver-facing camera for direct driver monitoring. It detects the position of the driver’s gaze and measures alertness through metrics such as how long the driver looks in one area or if the driver’s eyes are closing. Using this information, it alerts the driver when looking away from the road for too long or if drowsiness is detected.  

GSR2 mandates that a new sensor is fitted on all vehicles to allow for basic attention and drowsiness monitoring from Phase 2, a key factor driving the introduction of this technology. 
 
Emergency Lane Keeping System (ELKS) – This is a collision avoidance feature using forward-facing cameras and RADARs to prevent a vehicle leaving the lane of travel. Sensors detect when a driver crosses a road edge or crosses lane markings into the path of an oncoming vehicle and corrective steering is applied to remain in lane.  It seeks to prevent oncoming collisions which cause many fatalities due to the high closing speeds involved.  

GSR2 mandates this feature, which is already fitted to almost all new premium vehicles due to inclusion in Euro NCAP, although with a lower fitment rate than AEB. 

You can read the full Thatcham guide to GSR2 here.