The largest ever gathering of New Car Assessment Programmes has been held in Melaka, Malaysia on May 23-24. The Global NCAP Annual Meeting brought together all NCAPs active worldwide to share experience in promoting consumer information about automobile crash avoidance and protection. The meeting featured significant commitments to vehicle safety in the UN Decade of Action including the first crash demonstration of the ASEAN NCAP, the launch of a new testing facility in Malaysia and government action on vehicle crash test standards.
Global NCAP also adopted the ‘Melaka Declaration’ endorsing the vehicle safety aspects of the Global Plan for the Decade launched by the UN 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. This was supported recently in a debate on road safety held in April by the UN General Assembly. Global NCAP’s Chairman Max Mosley told the meeting that “here in Melaka, we are turning the UN Assembly’s words into action, which is what the Decade should be all about”.
eSafetyAware Secretary General Jacob Bangsgaard presented the last five years of consumer awareness raising activities of the organisation. This work was started by Max Mosley in 2006 with funding from the FIA Foundation and the European Commission. The eSafetyAware organisation with its 40 key automotive stakeholder organisations including FIA is today chaired by FIA President Jean Todt. The eSafety awareness activities have helped to bring more advanced vehicle safety systems into cars in Europe and the campaign experience should now be used to enhance the deployment of advanced vehicle safety on emerging markets where the future growth will be for both vehicle production and sales.
A highlight of the meeting was the official opening of the MIROS PC3 crash laboratory. The Institute’s Director General Dr Wong Shaw Woon, explained that; “With assistance from Global NCAP and the FIA Foundation, MIROS has been able to build a strong platform to develop an independent consumer-based assessment programme for vehicle safety in the ASEAN Region”. On behalf of the AAM, the club’s Vice Chairman, Wan Zahruddin Wan Ahmad, expressed the hope that; “As the ASEAN NCAP comes into effect today, this regional and global effort will make a significant contribution towards reducing road accident fatalities”.
The Annual Meeting concluded with live demonstrations of eSafety devices as Electronic Stability Control and Advanced Emergency Breaking. After the test, Max Mosley commented on the “remarkable stability of the car with the ESC system on” and called for “this life-saving technology to be made standard as soon as possible on all new cars across the world”.
Hosted by the Malaysian Institute for Road Safety Research (MIROS) and the Malaysian Automobile Association (AAM), the Annual Meeting was attended by over 450 delegates and held in conjunction with the 2012 South Asia Auto Safety Week.
eSafetyAware Secretary General, Jacob Bangsgaard, with Mr Max Mosley, Chairman of Global NCAP
The results of the demonstration test at the MIROS PC3 laboratory
eSafety demonstrations during Global NCAP Annual Meeting
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