S. 4936: Standards To Prevent Frontovers Act of 2026

This bill would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a new federal vehicle safety standard aimed at reducing injuries and deaths from “frontovers” and other low-speed vehicle incidents. A frontover is when a vehicle moving forward hits a person or object in an area the driver cannot see. The bill also covers backovers, which are reverse-movement incidents.

What the safety standard would require

Within 1 year of enactment, the Secretary of Transportation would have to begin a rulemaking process to set performance requirements for vehicles. Those requirements would need to:

• Reduce the risk of frontovers and similar low-speed crashes.
• Set a direct visibility standard.
• Require vehicles to detect certain people and objects in blind spots and within the driver’s field of view, including:
  • other motor vehicles,
  • pedestrians, including toddlers and small children,
  • bicyclists,
  • vulnerable road users,
  • wheelchair or assistive device users,
  • micromobility users or motorcyclists, and
  • other individuals, equipment, vehicles, or animals as determined by the Secretary.
• Include a driver notification system that alerts the driver in a way that helps them respond and avoid or lessen a crash.
• Include an active intervention system that can help the vehicle respond automatically to prevent or reduce harm.
• Provide a distinct audible and visual warning, and possibly a haptic warning, when those systems activate in a way that calls for a response.

Timeline for the new standard

The bill sets deadlines for getting the rule done and put into effect:

• The final safety standard would have to be issued within 1 year after the rulemaking begins.
• Full compliance would be required within 2 years after the final standard is issued.
• The Secretary could set a phase-in period, but it would have to end by the full compliance date.

If a phase-in is used, the Secretary would have to consider whether certain vehicle types should be phased in first based on crash data showing how often different vehicle types are involved in these incidents. If some vehicle types are prioritized, the regulations would need to specify which types come first and what percentage of those vehicles must comply during the phase-in.

Congressional reporting

If the final standard has not been issued on time, the Secretary would have to report to Congress 2 years after enactment and then every 90 days after that. Those reports would need to explain:

• the timetable for issuing the standard,
• why there was a delay, and
• what steps are being taken to address the delay and meet the timetable.

Passenger vehicle equipment requirement

The bill also amends federal law to require a final rule within 2 years after enactment that sets a compliance date no later than 2 years after enactment and requires all passenger motor vehicles manufactured for sale in the United States on or after that date to include the crash avoidance technologies described in the bill.

Data reporting changes

Within 30 days of enactment, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would have to add frontover and backover categories to the data it keeps under its Non-Traffic Surveillance System and to the summary reports it publishes from that data. The bill also allows the agency to consider other ways to improve reporting, such as changes to state crash report requirements or other reporting systems, and requires Congress to be notified once this update is completed.

Relevant Companies

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