A system and method for generating an overlay torque command for an electric motor in an EPS system for use in a collision avoidance system. The method uses model predictive control that employs a six-dimensional vehicle motion model including a combination of a one-track linear bicycle model and a one-degree of freedom steering column model to model the vehicle steering. The method determines a steering control goal that defines a path tracking error between the current vehicle path and the desired vehicle path through a cost function that includes an optimal total steering torque command. The MPC determines the optimal total steering torque command to minimize the path error, and then uses driver input torque, EPS assist torque and the total column torque command to determine the torque overlay command.