Asean NCAP release first crash test results

18-Feb-2013

A New Car Assessment Program for the Southeast Asian region had been established last year, its crash-test facility would be based in Malaysia. Fast-forward to today and the ASEAN NCAP has just released the results of its very first crash tests.

Seven cars were the first to be tested by ASEAN NCAP for its 64kph frontal offset crash tests. Of the seven, only two models achieved the maximum five stars for adult occupant protection: the Ford Fiesta and the Honda City, although the City topped the child occupant protection category at 81% versus the Fiesta's 66%. The Toyota Vios and the Nissan March, on the other hand, achieved four stars, while the results of the Perodua Myvi (three stars), the Hyundai i10 (two stars) and the Proton Saga (one star) showed that a lot more has to be done by carmakers to improve vehicle safety.

"Consumers in the ASEAN region should expect the same levels of safety as people in regions that have established crash-testing programs," said Global NCAP secretary general David Ward. "These results show that it's perfectly possible to produce affordable cars with the top level of safety standards for emerging markets. However, the disparity with those models at the lowest end of the scale is worrying."

The second phase of tests which the ASEAN NCAP will run is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2013.

The ASEAN NCAP is a collaborative effort between the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research and Global NCAP. It is supported by the membership of automobile associations from Malaysia (AAM), the Philippines (AAP) and Singapore (AA Singapore).