The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is preparing a January hearing to challenge several federal vehicle‑safety mandates — arguing that rules meant to protect drivers and passengers have inadvertently “hurt affordability” for ordinary car buyers.
At issue are safety technologies required for new cars under recent or upcoming regulations, including Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems and rear‑seat child‑alert alarms. Sponsors of the hearing, led by Ted Cruz (R‑Texas), contend that these features add thousands of dollars in costs. As Cruz put it, “Americans have been clear that they are hyper-focused on affordability.”
The hearing, scheduled for January 14, 2026, will summon executives from major automakers — including Tesla, General Motors, and Ford Motor Company — to explain why the average price of a new vehicle, now about $50,000, has climbed so steeply.
Backers of the mandates maintain the technologies save lives. A spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said regulation remains “the best way to make sure everybody’s got this technology that’s highly effective.”
Yet critics argue that sensor‑ and software‑based systems are costly to repair, sometimes unreliable, and may offer diminishing marginal safety returns compared with older, proven requirements like seat‑belt laws and crash‑worthiness standards.
The debate comes as Congress negotiates the reauthorization of a roughly $300 billion highway funding bill — a legislative vehicle likely to shape the balance among safety requirements, emissions controls, and vehicle costs going forward.
As lawmakers and automakers prepare for the hearing, the core question is sharpening: can the U.S. afford to prioritize both advanced safety technology and widespread access to new, affordable vehicles? Or must one be scaled back to preserve the other?
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