What happened
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an independent nonprofit funded by auto insurers. On 8 October 2026, it published its first front crash prevention ratings for cargo vans and Class 3 pickups. It used the same test protocols and rating requirements as for passenger vehicles. The vehicle-to-vehicle test checks warnings and automatic braking at 31, 37 and 43 mph with a passenger car target and a motorcycle target. It also checks warnings for a semitrailer. Active Brake Assist is standard on the 2025 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500. It avoided the car target in all six runs and the motorcycle target in five of six, with timely warnings. At 43 mph with the motorcycle off-center, it slowed by 20 mph, and its warning was not timely. The Sprinter was the only one of the 11 vans and pickups rated good. In the pedestrian test, it was rated acceptable, and with low beams it failed to slow for an adult walking along the road at night. No crash avoided on public roads is reported.
Sources
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Assessment report, by authors with no tie to the system.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Cargo vans and work pickups struggle in IIHS crash avoidance tests. News release, 8 October 2026, section Vehicle-to-vehicle crash prevention.
The Sprinter 2500 earns a good rating, the BrightDrop 400 is acceptable, and the others are marginal or poor.
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Assessment report, by authors with no tie to the system.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. 2025 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500, front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 and pedestrian. Commercial vehicle ratings page, read on 1 November 2026. It reports each test run with the car, motorcycle and semitrailer targets.
Front crash prevention: vehicle-to-vehicle 2.0 System details standard Active Brake Assist
Details
AI system
- Workflow
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Active Brake Assist was standard on the 2025 Sprinter 2500. IIHS ran trials at 31, 37 and 43 mph with car and motorcycle targets centered and off-center. IIHS used the same test protocols and rating requirements as for passenger vehicles.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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The driver brakes or steers when nearing a motorcycle at 43 mph, since the van slowed but hit the target in one such run. The driver steers or brakes for a large truck ahead, since IIHS tested only the warning with the semitrailer.
Entry details
- Sector
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Road vehicle crash avoidance.
- Purpose
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Mercedes-Benz built Active Brake Assist to warn the driver and brake automatically when a frontal collision is likely.
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Cite this record
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Active Brake Assist gives the Sprinter the top IIHS front crash rating (AIBD-1114). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 1 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1114.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 7.0)