Commuters navigate early morning traffic as they drive towards downtown in Los Angeles, California, U.S., July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake/ File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. auto safety regulator said on Friday it will delay changes to the five-star safety rating program that helps consumers make better car buying decisions after automakers sought more time.

Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was adding several features to its five-star New Car Assessment Program, which gives consumers safety information on new vehicles. These included blind-spot warning, blind spot intervention, lane-keeping assist and pedestrian automatic emergency braking. It also said last year it was updating its automatic emergency braking requirements effective in the 2026 model year that starts this month.

But on Friday, the agency said it will delay the stringent new rules until the 2027 model year after a group representing nearly all major automakers in April said the agency had failed to publish pedestrian crash test procedures.

Automakers covet five-star safety ratings that are considered by many new car buyers. They are separate from NHTSA's mandatory auto safety standards.

NHTSA said last year the changes to the 5-Star Safety Ratings will speed adoption of technologies that address the frequency and severity of crashes, especially for pedestrian crashes. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing General Motors, Volkswagen and other automakers, said the prior schedule did not allow enough time to implement vehicle design changes and would mean very few vehicles would qualify for the top ratings. The group did not immediately comment on Friday.

The auto group separately asked President Donald Trump to reconsider rules finalized in April 2024 requiring nearly all new cars and trucks by 2029 to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems.

The auto group asked a court to overturn the rule, saying the requirement that cars and trucks must be able to stop and avoid striking vehicles in front of them at up to 62 miles per hour (100 kph) is unrealistic.

Earlier this month, NHTSA said it was planning to write rules to give automakers another two years to comply with the automatic emergency braking rule to "have more time to achieve challenging aspects of the standard" and to give the industry additional flexibility.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew Lewis)