The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing further delays to its New Car Assessment Program, the long-running crash testing initiative that rates vehicles and has historically driven automakers to improve safety features. The move comes amid growing criticism that NHTSA has fallen behind on multiple regulatory obligations, raising questions about the agency's capacity to enforce vehicle safety standards at a time when new technologies like autonomous driving and advanced driver-assistance systems are rapidly entering the market. Industry watchers and consumer advocates have long relied on NCAP ratings as a key benchmark for comparing vehicle safety, so any further slippage could leave shoppers without timely, comparable data as they make purchasing decisions. The proposed delays add to a broader pattern of missed deadlines that has prompted calls for a deeper review of the agency's operations and staffing.
NHTSA is proposing delays to the already laggard New Car Assessment Program, part of a larger pattern of tardiness by the agency.
