DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s auto safety ratings will get a major update starting in the 2026 model year, when regulators add new driver-assistance technologies and tests to protect pedestrians.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it had completed the changes, which were required by Congress under the bipartisan infrastructure law of 2021.

In addition to the five-star crash test ratings, the agency will add four new technologies, including automatic pedestrian emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, blind-spot warning and intervention if the driver tries to steer into a vehicle in a blind spot.

The new rule also strengthens test procedures and performance standards for technology that is already included in the assessments, such as automatic emergency braking.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose department includes NHTSA, said the previous ratings, which went into effect in 1978, helped the industry meet higher safety standards.

The new requirements ensure that “the assessment of these cars includes not only the safety of people inside the vehicles during a crash, but also how a vehicle’s design could prevent a crash or make it less fatal to someone outside the vehicle,” a Buttigieg said. in an interview with The Associated Press.

The agency said the five-star crash test ratings that most vehicles now receive will not change under the new system. But consumers would also see green checkmarks if the vehicles they’re shopping for have safety features and can be sure they meet standards set by the government, Buttigieg said.

At first, the features will receive a pass or fail grade, but later they will receive scores so buyers can compare vehicles, he said.

The standards, which will begin appearing on vehicle window stickers in August, should motivate automakers to speed up rollout of the features, he said. Automakers already use crash test ratings to compete for customers, and Buttigieg expects that to happen with the new features as well.

To get credit for having the features, automakers must make the safety devices standard equipment on their vehicles, Buttigieg said.

“Hopefully this will move the market in that direction, that consumers will have another reason to be aware that these features exist and then question whether the car they’re considering buying has those features,” he said.

The new standards will also strengthen testing procedures for safety features that are already included, such as automatic emergency braking, the agency said. Automatic emergency braking will have to meet strict requirements and be standard equipment on all passenger vehicles by 2029.

The agency will also set design standards to mitigate pedestrian injuries, following most of the regulations already in place in Europe. The standards will set a minimum threshold for impact points and injury to a pedestrian struck by a vehicle at 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour).

Buttigieg said this is the first of multiple regulations his department wants to implement before the end of President Joe Biden’s term. He did not say what other regulations might come into effect.

“We’ve all been ahead on a number of regulations,” he said. “We kept this pace, regardless of what we anticipated in the elections. So you can expect us to keep sprinting through the lane, especially on the rules that we know will make a big difference, that we think will be well received by the public, and that we’ve already put a lot of work into. .”

The standards, last updated in 2008 for the 2011 models, have resulted in significant reductions in crashes, deaths and injuries, the agency said. The number of people inside vehicles who died in road crashes fell from 32,043 in 2001 to 26,325 in 2021. But pedestrian deaths rose 51 percent to 7,388 over the same period, so improvements are needed, the agency said.

Last year, nearly 41,000 people died in traffic crashes nationwide, a 3.6 percent decrease from 2022, NHTSA estimates. Deaths have fallen for nine consecutive quarters.

But deaths rose in 2021, up 10.5 percent from 2020, as people started driving more as the COVID-19 pandemic began to ease. This was the highest number since 2005 and the highest percentage increase since 1975.