A collision avoidance system and method that may be used to prevent, avoid and/or mitigate a collision between a host vehicle and a target vehicle by engaging in autonomous braking once an imminent crash is detected. Unlike other methods that are only capable of autonomous braking according to predetermined and static brake commands, the present method may use dynamic brake commands throughout an autonomous braking event so that the deceleration of the host vehicle can be continuously adjusted such that it concludes at a reasonable distance away from the target vehicle. According to one example, the collision avoidance system maintains a relative distance (Δd) and/or a relative velocity (Δv) between the host and target vehicles during the autonomous braking event.