Global NCAP Rejects Criticism From Nissan
In response to criticism by Nissan Executive Vice President Andy Palmer in Autocar, David Ward, Secretary General of Global NCAP has made the following statement:
“Andy Palmer is entirely wrong. The UN’s basic crash standard for front impact is not costly to apply. To pass it only requires a single driver airbag and reasonable body shell integrity which today many global platforms already provide. These standards have been in force in Europe since 1998 and as part of the current UN Decade of Action for Road Safety are increasingly being applied around the world. They are affordable and should be a global minimum. No one is suggesting change overnight…that’s why it is a Decade of Action. Whether Palmer likes it or not the growth of New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAPs) around the world will build demand for safer cars. Successful competitors of Nissan realise this and are now offering much safer cars in emerging markets. Nissan, in contrast, seems to want to persist in selling poor quality products like the Nissan Tsuru in Mexico which scored very badly (zero stars) when tested last year by Latin NCAP. The argument that that unsafe cars are substituting for motorcycles is weak. Look, for example, at the commercial failure of the low cost Tata Nano in India.
With global harmonisation of UN crash standards the limited extra costs will be reduced even further. Some in the car industry foolishly resisted the introduction of these crash tests in Europe in the mid-1990s. Andy Palmer will make the same mistake again if he stands against the UN’s efforts to improve vehicle safety in the Decade of Action.”
YOUTUBE
