AEB systems found to be confused by reflective tradie workwear, compromising pedestrian safety

02/12/2025 10:03 PM

High-visibility clothing, designed for better perceptibility in low-light conditions, could have a major effect on the efficacy of vehicle autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems, a new study has found.

The research, conducted by the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), ran tests to determine whether three new models – the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, and Subaru Forester – could identify and slow from a speed of 25 miles per hour (40km/h) with dummies clad in four different outfits in a night-time setting.

The clothing includes outfits coloured in all black, black with reflective strips, and black with a reflective jacket, as well as an all-white attire.

The examination also ran through three different lighting situations – no road illumination, 10 lux, and 20 lux lighting – all run with low beams activated.

A braking assessment was also conducted with each vehicle's high-beams, but only for the all-black-clad dummy in a no-illumination environment.

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The results show the low-beam-activated CR-V and CX-5's AEB system did not recognize and reduce speed at all when encountering the dummy wearing reflective strips, regardless of lighting conditions.

The Subaru Forester performed better, coming to a stop with no road lighting and the 20-lux setting, and reducing speed by 82 per cent with 10-lux lighting.

The CR-V also did not react to the dummy wearing a reflective jacket, whereas the CX-5 managed to reduce speed by up to 62 per cent across the lighting conditions, and the Forester avoided the collision altogether.

Likewise, the Forester was able to identify the dummy clothed in black and white outfits, while the CR-V and CX-5 performed to varying degrees of success in the same conditions.

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As for the assessment with high beams, the Forester, again, performed the best, recognising and stopping before striking the dummy, while the CX-5 and CR-V reduced speeds by 68 and 40 per cent respectively.

Of note however, is that the Forester employs the Subaru's EyeSight active safety suite, which utilises dual front-facing cameras mounted on the windscreen to recognise potential hazards ahead.

The CX-5 and CR-V systems meanwhile – along with other car brands such as Toyota, Ford, and Nissan – make use of single camera and radar-based technology to determine upcoming obstacles.

The report goes on to state that "it's not clear why the Honda and Mazda systems struggled with the reflective strips or how many other systems might have trouble identifying pedestrians wearing this type of clothing".

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And while IIHS senior research scientist David Kidd specifically called out the poor performance of the reflective strip performance, stating "the moving strips didn't have the same effect for the pedestrian AEB systems we tested and probably confounded their sensors", the report also makes mention that real-world clothing worn by roadway workers "is generally bright yellow or orange rather than black".

Either way, IIHS President David Harkey said "this is a worrisome blind spot" and that car brands need to work to improve their safety systems.

"These results suggest that some auto makers need to tweak their pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems," Harkey said.

"It's untenable that the clothes that pedestrians, cyclists and roadway workers wear to be safe may make them harder for crash avoidance technology to recognise."

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