ASEAN Nations Adopt Crash-Test Program

After two years of planning, Southeast Asia gets its own new-car assessment program with the launch of ASEAN NCAP during the inaugural Global NCAP meeting in Malacca, Malaysia.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations program is being run by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS). The culminating feature of the ASEAN New-Car Assessment Program was the first crash test conducted at the new, purpose-built MIROS PC3 Crash Lab.

The first car tested was a white Toyota Vios.

MIROS Director General Wong Voon Shaw tells reporters he expects to issue NCAP assessments of seven made-in-ASEAN vehicles in October. The cars to be tested are low-specification, best-selling models from seven auto makers.

Since the world’s first NCAP was established in the U.S. in 1979, similar programs have been formed covering Australasia (Asia, New Zealand and Melanesia), China, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Latin America and the Caribbean. Global testing is part of the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020), with expanding NCAPs into emerging markets among its initiatives.

ASEAN NCAP follows the establishment of Latin NCAP in 2010.

The Australasian New-Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has been assisting with the formation of ASEAN NCAP by providing technical and program support and advice to MIROS.

ANCAP CEO Nicholas Clarke says the Australian program will continue to mentor MIROS in coming years as its crash-testing program develops to ensure the ASEAN program pursues protocols and procedures that will provide meaningful, accurate and repeatable test results.

“While we find it difficult to accept the number of deaths that occur on Australian roads – just over 1,300 last year – the Malaysian road toll stands at close to 7,000,” Clarke says in a statement.

This equates to about 25 deaths per 100,000 people, which is more than quadruple the Australian fatality rate.

“The establishment of ASEAN NCAP has already proved its worth with the decision by one manufacturer to introduce airbags into one of its models (that) is currently supplied in the Southeast Asian market without airbags,” Clarke says.

ASEAN NCAP officially launched during the inaugural Global NCAP meeting as part of Automotive Safety Week in Malaysia. Delegates to the largest-ever gathering of new-car assessment programs adopted the “Melaka Declaration” endorsing the vehicle-safety aspects of the UN’s Global Plan for the Decade enacted last year.

These include the universal application of the UN’s most important vehicle-safety regulations and the creation of NCAPs in all world regions.

Winners of the Global NCAP annual safety awards include the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Admin., its former administrator Joan Claybrook, who created the first NCAP in 1978, and supplier Robert Bosch, for its development of anti-skid electronic stability control.

Global NCAP Chairman Max Mosley calls ESC life-saving technology that should be “made standard as soon as possible on all new cars across the world.”

Alejandro Furas, technical director-Global NCAP, says the top six safety features all consumers should demand when buying a new car are seatbelts and their anchorages, front- and side-impact crash protection, ESC and pedestrian protection.

Global NCAP also recommends choosing a “5-star” NCAP-rated car whenever possible.