New obligation imposed by Europe on all cars

The European Union has imposed a new obligation for all cars in production, a system that must in the meantime be present as standard on all newly homologated cars starting from 6 July, and mandatory from 2024. A device that serves to limit the speed. But what is it about?

New EU obligation on cars from 2024

The speed limiter is the novelty introduced by the EU on all new homologated vehicles starting from 6 July, so it will soon be added as standard on every car. And from 2024 it will become mandatory on every new vehicle that will be sold within the European Union. A step forward as far as the road safety objectives in our continent, even if during the first phase of use (in the future we still do not know) each driver will still have the possibility to deactivate it.

How the car speed limiter works

First the name of the new device approved by the European Union is ISA, which stands for Intelligent Speed ​​Assistance and uses a combination of data from GPS, the vehicle’s emergency braking system and cameras to recognize road signs, detecting the right speed to keep on each section, alerting the driver of the vehicle when it exceeds the limit, emitting visual and sound signals.

In the event that the driver exceeds the speed limit imposed by law for a given route, the limiter applied to the car sends a acoustic signal very similar to the one that starts when the seat belts are not fastened, insistent and annoying at the right point, and then proceeds by sending a vibration on the accelerator pedal and on the driver’s seat. In the event that the person behind the wheel proceeds without adapting the speed to the limits imposed by law (also risking a heavy fine), then the new ISA device decreases the speed of the vehicle autonomously, acting with the automatic braking system. emergency and returning the machine to the right limit allowed.

When it comes into effect

As we have already specified, the European Union decision provides that all the new machines that will be homologated starting from 6 July 2022 must be produced by the car manufacturers with the speed limiter already installed and therefore can only be sold after inserting the ISA. . As for cars with a previous homologation, it will be possible to adapt to the new equipment no later than July 7, 2024. For all vehicles already in circulation there is no adjustment.

Speed ​​limiter: will it always be active?

In reality, as we have already anticipated, no: at least initially in fact the new ISA device for cars could be disabled by the driver at any time. The goal of installing the speed limiter is only one: to increase road safety. The problem is that there are still several roads on which signs with speed limits related to works already completed have been left or road signs that are placed on the side of the road even before the start of the construction site. Or again, we know that there are different limits depending on the type of vehicle you are driving or the lane occupied during circulation. For this reason, the possibility of temporarily deactivating the ISA is currently envisaged, even if in the future a fixed and non-deactivable system is envisaged, blocking any overspeed.