U.S. Senate committee to discuss cost of vehicle federal, mandated tech during hearing

Automakers will go before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee early next year to discuss what federal and mandated technologies are driving up the cost of vehicles for consumers, according to a Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing notice. 

The notice states committee Chairman U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will convene the hearing, titled “Pedal to the Policy: The Views on the American Auto Industry on the Upcoming Surface Transportation Reauthorization.”

“Americans have been clear that they are hyper-focused on affordability, and so is this committee,” Cruz says in the notice. “The average price of a car has more than doubled in the past decade, driven up by onerous government-mandated technologies and radical environmental regulations. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act took crucial steps to drive costs down with the repeal of the EV mandate and CAFE standards, but we must do more. This hearing will examine how government interference continues to make vehicles expensive and out of reach for American customers and how we can restore competition and choice.”

The hearing, set for Jan. 14 at 10 a.m., will examine global warming regulations and mandated technologies, the notice says. It will be streamed live on the committee’s website and YouTube.

“In 2000, the average new car in the United States sold for $20,356,” the notice says. “By 2010, the price had modestly risen to $24,296. Ten years later, the average new vehicle transaction price had doubled and now exceeds $50,000. New mandated technologies and climate regulations, like start-stop technology, have contributed to the soaring vehicle costs.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, a mandate that includes automatic emergency braking (AEB) and alarms that remind drivers of children in the backseat will be discussed during the hearing.

Invited witnesses include: 

• • Mary Barra, chair and chief executive officer, General Motors
  • Antonio Filosa, chief executive officer and executive director, Stellantis
  • Lars Moravy, vice president of vehicle engineering, Tesla
  • Jim Farley, president and chief executive officer, Ford Motor Co.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (Auto Innovators) submitted comments to the Energy and Commerce Committee in August following the committee’s request for comments before the expiration of the federal surface transportation programs. 

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) reauthorized the surface transportation programs through Sept. 30, 2026.

Many of the comments made by Auto Innovators echo those made by its President and CEO, John Bozzella, to the House Committee in June. 

“NHTSA [National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] is an agency that, in many ways, is not working as intended, leaving automotive safety without a governmental and regulatory roadmap,” Auto Innovators’ comments sent to the committee say. “When NHTSA worked well, it constructively engaged with external stakeholders, provided a clear research agenda to inform potential regulations, created regulatory frameworks that enabled innovation, and promoted the introduction of new safety technology.”

Auto Innovators have also pushed back against NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, FMVSS 127, which will require AEB and pedestrian AEB to come standard by September 2029 on all passenger cars and light trucks weighing up to 10,000 pounds.

By then, AEB must be able to avoid rear-end crashes at up to 62 miles per hour and detect pedestrians in daylight and at nighttime.

The standard will require AEB to engage at speeds of up to 90 mph when a collision with a lead vehicle is imminent and up to 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.

Auto Innovators filed suit against NHTSA in January, claiming the rule isn’t technologically feasible. 

In a June 2024 letter to Congress, Bozzella wrote that NHTSA’s new standard is “practically impossible with available technology” and that “NHTSA’s own data shows only one tested vehicle met the stopping distance requirements in the final rule.”

The 2021 IIJA also instructed NHTSA to require technology that gives an audio and visual reminder alert to check the back seat.

Congress instructed NHTSA to issue the federal standard by November 2023, but it missed the deadline. 

While federal regulations might be slow-moving, most OEMs have voluntarily started the process. According to an Auto Innovators report released in 2023, many OEMs have already added rear seat reminder systems to their vehicles or pledged to do so by this year. 

Last year, CBS asked Auto Innovators why it wasn’t “committing” to the radar technology. 

“The automakers want to provide technologies that best meet the needs of their customers, and so there are a range of options for them to do that, and radar technologies would be one of those options,” said Hilary Cain, Auto Innovators’ senior vice president for policy. “There are a lot of people who purchase vehicles today that do not have children and may not need or want these systems. Since these systems will be standard on all vehicles, there will be a cost reflected in the price of the vehicle for the technologies. Providing a range of technologies may give purchasers who are not interested in the technology [or] don’t need the technology, a lower price point than otherwise.”

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Photo of U.S. Senate committee room. (Courtesy of wellesenterprises/iStock)