AAA Tests Intersection Emergency Braking: Left Turns Pass, Cars Turning Into Your Path Mostly Don’t
Many new cars now promise automatic emergency braking (AEB) that works at intersections, not just when you are about to rear-end someone. New AAA testing released on November 12 shows that intersection automatic emergency braking is making progress, but it is far from a safety net you can count on. All four 2026 model-year vehicles AAA tested avoided a crash in a standardized left-turn scenario. But when another car turned into their path from a side road, three of the four did not prevent a collision. For drivers in Naperville, Wheaton and the rest of DuPage County, where busy signalized intersections are part of every commute, the results are worth knowing.
What AAA tested
AAA partnered with the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Automotive Research Center to test four 2026 model-year vehicles that come with intersection AEB as standard equipment: the Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Explorer, Hyundai Tucson and Tesla Model Y. Testing took place on a closed course in daytime conditions, with a robotic soft vehicle target playing the role of the other car. AAA ran 74 test runs in total across four scenarios:
- Turn into path: the test vehicle drove straight at 30 mph while the target car turned right into its path from a cross street at 5 mph.
- Left turn across path (standard test): with the turn signal on and a steering robot at the wheel, the test vehicle turned left at about 9.3 mph across the path of an oncoming target traveling about 18.6 mph. This follows a standardized Euro NCAP procedure.
- Left turn, no turn signal: the same left turn with the turn signal off.
- Left turn, human driver: the same left turn with the signal on, but a test driver steering instead of the robot.
The results
The standardized left-turn test went well. All four vehicles warned the driver, braked and avoided the target in every valid run, 20 out of 20. Swapping the steering robot for a human driver did not change that.
The side-street scenario was a different story. Across 16 valid turn-into-path runs, a collision was avoided only five times, all by the Tesla Model Y, which warned and braked in every run. The Chevrolet Equinox gave a forward collision warning in four of five runs and braked in one, but struck the target every time. The Ford Explorer and Hyundai Tucson gave no warning and applied no braking in their three valid runs and struck the target each time. Average impact speeds in those crashes were roughly 25 mph (about 40 km/h).
Turning off the turn signal exposed another gap. In the no-signal left turn, the Hyundai Tucson gave no warning and did not brake, striking the target in all three valid runs, while the other three vehicles still avoided it. (Under AAA’s method, if a vehicle gave neither a warning nor braking in its first three runs of a scenario, testing of that scenario was stopped to limit damage.)
“Intersections are some of the most dangerous places on the road,” said Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering and research. “AEB is making progress in the limited intersection scenarios it is tested to handle. Unfortunately, performance outside those scenarios is spotty.”
Why intersections matter
According to an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety analysis of NHTSA crash data from 2020 to 2024, done at AAA’s request, angle crashes, including intersection crashes such as left turns across traffic, turns into another car’s path and T-bone collisions, accounted for about 41% of reported two-vehicle traffic deaths.
Yet U.S. emergency braking tests have historically focused on rear-end crashes. Euro NCAP added a limited set of intersection tests in 2020. NHTSA drafted an intersection test procedure for research purposes in 2019, but AAA notes that a final U.S. test standard has not been put in place.
There is progress. When AAA tested four vehicles in 2022 whose standard AEB did not include intersection features, none of them gave a warning or braked in the intersection scenarios, and every run ended in a collision. AAA cautions that the 2022 and 2026 studies used different vehicles, scenarios and speeds, so they are not a direct head-to-head comparison.
What this means for DuPage drivers
Here’s our take: intersection braking is a helpful backup, but the AAA results show it can miss exactly the kind of crash that happens when someone pulls out of a side street or a shopping-center exit on Route 59 or Ogden Avenue.
- Cover the brake. AAA suggests resting your right foot just above the brake pedal, heel on the floor, as you enter an intersection, and being ready to brake or steer if a nearby driver turns into your path.
- Don’t drive to the technology. AAA’s advice is to treat intersection AEB as an added layer of protection while staying attentive. Our look at distracted driving and car touchscreens explains why eyes-up driving matters most at intersections.
- Use your turn signal. Signal every turn. It is the law and good manners, and AAA’s no-signal result suggests at least some systems rely on it.
- Know what your car has. Check your owner’s manual for which crash-avoidance features your vehicle includes and what situations they are designed for.
Even with a careful driver and good technology, intersection fender benders still happen. A dent where the paint is still intact is often a candidate for paintless dent repair, which reshapes the metal without sanding or repainting. Scrapes, cracked paint and bigger damage usually call for dent and scratch repair or collision repair. An inspection decides which fits.
Our team at EZ Tech Paintless Dent Removal & Collision repairs everything from parking-lot dings to collision damage across Chicagoland. If you are in the Naperville area, stop by our Naperville shop, or find the closest one on our locations page. We’re happy to show you what we find and walk you through your options. This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice.
Sources: AAA, “AAA: Intersection AEB May Help Prevent Some Crashes, but Limitations Remain” (news release, November 12, 2026); AAA, “Performance of Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking Systems” (research report, November 2026); AAA, “Intersection Automatic Emergency Braking: Performance Testing” (fact sheet, November 2026). Accessed November 13, 2026.
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