2022 Ram 1500 Tradesman on 2040-cars

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NHTSA, IIHS, and 20 automakers to make auto braking standard by 2022

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and virtually every automaker in the US domestic market have announced a pact to make automatic emergency braking standard by 2022. Here's the full rundown of companies involved: BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo (not to mention the brands that fall under each automaker's respective umbrella). Like we reported yesterday, AEB will be as ubiquitous in the future as traction and stability control are today. But the thing to note here is that this is not a governmental mandate. It's truly an agreement between automakers and the government, a fact that NHTSA claims will lead to widespread adoption three years sooner than a formal rule. That fact in itself should prevent up to 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries. The agreement will come into effect in two waves. For the majority of vehicles on the road – those with gross vehicle weights below 8,500 pounds – AEB will need to be standard equipment by September 1, 2022. Vehicles between 8,501 and 10,000 pounds will have an extra three years to offer AEB. "It's an exciting time for vehicle safety. By proactively making emergency braking systems standard equipment on their vehicles, these 20 automakers will help prevent thousands of crashes and save lives," said Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said in an official statement. "It's a win for safety and a win for consumers." Read on for the official press release from NHTSA. Related Video: U.S. DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment of 20 automakers to make automatic emergency braking standard on new vehicles McLEAN, Va. – The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced today a historic commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99 percent of the U.S. auto market to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on virtually all new cars no later than NHTSA's 2022 reporting year, which begins Sept 1, 2022. Automakers making the commitment are Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA.

2015 Ram Promaster City will work for $23,130*

Need a cargo van, but nothing too big? Fiat Chrysler Automobiles could have the answer in the form of its new Ram ProMaster City. Essentially a domesticated version of the Fiat Doblo, the ProMaster City joins the Ram family as the baby brother to the larger ProMaster (née Fiat Ducato). But if you've been wondering how much one will set you back, Auburn Hills has now announced pricing.
The 2015 Ram ProMaster City Tradesman Cargo starts things off with a $23,130 MSRP, plus a $995 destination charge. Upgrade to the Tradesman SLT Cargo and you'll be looking at $24,655, while the passenger-oriented Wagon and Wagon SLT start at $24,130 and $25,655 respectively (again, plus $995).
The base delivered price of $24,125 makes the new Ram ProMaster City more expensive than its competition, with the Nissan NV200 the cheapest in the segment at $21,605, the Chevy City Express starting at $22,950 and the Ford Transit Connect starting at $23,125 (all prices including destination fees).

2019 Ram 1500: Everything we know

We're not too far away from the sheet being pulled off the 2019 Ram 1500. But over and over, we've had spy shots come in revealing much of the truck before hand. The latest ones have given us a very clear look at the truck's new grille, which boldly does away with the signature crosshair grille. The main iteration we've seen is the one above with the "RAM" logo in the center flanked by split chrome bars. Chrome is used extensively elsewhere, too. The traditional Ram logo has also probably been binned, at least on the exterior, in favor of the broad Ram script currently seen on the Ram Rebel, Laramie Longhorn and Limited trims. Indeed, it seems like a change that the brand has subtly been trying to get its customers ready for, as a quick trip to the company website will show a greater reliance on those trim levels to visually represent each Ram model (including the heavy-duty 2500 and 3500). View 3 Photos Now, there will likely continue to be multiple grille options available as there is today to at least differentiate luxury and off-road models. In the renderings above, we show a version of the grille without those chrome bars. The rest of the truck in the rendering is based on what we saw when some gusty weather unofficially revealed the Ram 1500 to a spy photographer, as seen in the gallery below. View 18 Photos As for everything else we know about the 2019 Ram 1500 ... The Interior View 8 Photos We got pretty good shots of the new Ram interior a few weeks ago. There will be a huge, vertically oriented touchscreen available, possibly with updated UConnect interface software, flanked by hard buttons for the climate control system. A volume knob and redundant multi-purpose control knob will remain, as will the rotary transmission selector. New toggle switches below will be dedicated to various vehicle controls, and we would assume would remain in place throughout the trim level range. Smaller touchscreens will almost certainly be found on lower trims with a traditional array of climate controls between them and the toggles. It'll be steel View 5 Photos An intrepid magnet-wielding spy photographer back in August examined a 2019 Ram test mule's body panels and discovered the majority of them are steel. The hood and tailgate are aluminum, however. There will be a split tailgate option View 18 Photos Speaking of that tailgate, spy photos have shown that it will be available with a split, barn-door-style tailgate option.