Security collisions call for national standards

The China New Car Collision Assessment Procedure (C-NCAP) plan will increase the requirements on an existing basis and will launch the 2012 version of the rules in the second half of this year. The new rules will reduce the average vehicle score by 3 points, thereby further improving the vehicle safety evaluation standards, especially Improve the five-star standard threshold.

According to reports, the new version of the rules has increased the collision speed of vehicles, and has also increased the evaluation of vehicle rear-end safety, active safety systems, and pedestrian safety. As a result of the increase in standards, C-NCAP will no longer have an excessive number of five-star and four-star cars. Consumers may choose superior or inferior ones.

To measure the safety performance of a new car, it is not up to the manufacturers themselves to have the final say, and it is subject to neutral objective verification. Therefore, the positive effect of C-NCAP on China's auto industry is self-evident. Basically, the foreign reputation and high-quality models have performed equally well in China. As for the models with poor crash performance, it is also the reputation of the market, and sales are not much better. It is better for a professional social organization to take the initiative to make a collision assessment and publicize the results to the consumers. This is better for the company’s self-talk than for the public.

In the United States, Europe, and Japan, passenger occupant protection safety regulations have been established, and new vehicle collision safety tests are regularly performed. China also has compulsory certification on the frontal collision of automobiles, but they are only the minimum requirements for the safety of automotive products, that is, access thresholds, and the standards are neither high nor comprehensive. The reason why NCAP is more concerned with the re-vehicle collision assessment procedure is that it is not a government-compulsory experiment, but it is widely representative and fair and scientific. Among them, European NCAP is composed of European auto associations, government agencies, consumer rights organizations, auto clubs, and other organizations. Major auto companies recognize NCAP as an important assessment basis for automobile development.

It is of course a good thing that China's new cars collide with each other in order to raise standards. It is bound to block a number of intermediate products that can be used up or down to make the five-star gold content higher. This method of improving the "score line" for the selection of outstanding models has further widened the gap between different companies and protected the growth and competitiveness of outstanding companies. However, regardless of whether the scoreline is high or low, it always comes from an organization's standards, which is inevitably subject to subjective factors and abilities vision, but also affected by interest groups. Strong brands have the ability to use technical or non-technical means, so that their models are always ranked five stars. More brands may also fall into a state of being coerced into the “test-education” circle and lose the overall consideration of vehicle safety design.

Therefore, we must expect the country to continue to raise the threshold for entry. At the same time, we hope that the collision assessment agency will not be able to live up to the C-NCAP C word. Since it is China, it should be more extensive and authoritative. Due to the backwardness of China's auto safety standards and the lack of relevant knowledge for consumers, many auto manufacturers often confuse high-level and safety configurations when importing products for Chinese consumers, exaggerating passive safety performance. In the case of collisions with high vehicles, the biggest sales volume is the lack of standard vehicles for safety, and it is difficult for consumers to have insights. Whether this raised standard meets the expectations of the public and where is the gap with Europe? Five-star is not prepared for a strong brand. Even if the five-star is really safe, it has a place for discussion.

The state's efforts to raise safety standards in the form of laws and regulations are, in the final analysis, based on objective tests of representative social institutions. Therefore, active intervention and guidance at the government level are indispensable. Of course, we do not want the government to guarantee an institution. On the contrary, the government quality inspection agency should play a more supervisory role in order to focus on the wisdom and achievements of society and improve the security standards made in China with the times.