Not everyone is happy about a recent agreement between car companies and federal regulators that would ensure all new cars are equipped with automated emergency braking systems by 2022.

Ever since the ink dried on the pact in March, consumer advocates have voiced concerns about both the timeframe for adopting this potential life-saving technology and the voluntary nature of the agreement. Their disagreements reached a new level last week, with two organizations and a former chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) filing a lawsuit against that agency in an attempt to spur a formal rulemaking from regulators.
?This year, NHTSA has devoted enormous agency resources to ?driverless vehicles,? which are years or even decades away, while a safety system that is ready to start saving lives right now has been relegated to the whims of the auto companies,? said Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog and one of the plaintiffs? lawyers in the case.
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?A safety system that is ready to start saving lives right now has been relegated to the whims of the auto companies.?

? Harvey Rosenfield, Consumer Watchdog

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Safety advocates complain the agreement lacks any enforcement power and continues a pattern of soft oversight from regulators at a time when the auto industry has been afflicted by a series of deadly product defects.
Car companies and federal regulators, on the other hand, hail the voluntary agreement as an example of a new, proactive way ...