Chinese crash tests to get tougher

Picture released 21 June 2007 by Germany's biggest Automobile Club ADAC shows Chinese limousine Brilliance BS6, destroyed after a "crash-test" at ADAC's so-called crash-laboratoy in Landsberg, southern Germany. The Brilliance BS6 failed to satisfy the security tests and managed to score only one out of possible five stars in the crash test. ADAC says that in a real accident the driver would probably not survive a crash at the speed of 64km/h. AFP PHOTO ADAC

Picture released 21 June 2007 by Germany's biggest Automobile Club ADAC shows Chinese limousine Brilliance BS6, destroyed after a "crash-test" at ADAC's so-called crash-laboratoy in Landsberg, southern Germany. The Brilliance BS6 failed to satisfy the security tests and managed to score only one out of possible five stars in the crash test. ADAC says that in a real accident the driver would probably not survive a crash at the speed of 64km/h. AFP PHOTO ADAC

Published Oct 17, 2011

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The biggest problem faced by Chinese carmakers in their efforts to become players on the global market is the perception in the minds of the Western car-buying public of poor build quality - especially with regard to safety.

That perception has been fuelled by a number of scary crash-test videos and a well-publicised incident some years back when a Chinese manufacturer was asked by the organisers to close its stand at the Frankfurt motor show because the cars it had brought in for display couldn't pass a roadworthy test.

But before you say, “Yeah right, Chinese cars ARE rubbish”, ask yourself when last you drove one - and what the Chinese are doing to change people's perceptions of their cars.

According to reports from China, one of the things they are doing is a comprehensive overhaul of the China New Car Assessment Program (C-NCAP), due to be implemented in July 2012.

The new standards will low-speed crash testing and whiplash protection parameters, as well as measuring the safety of rear-seat pasengers for the first time. Believe it or not, up to now Chinese safety standards have not included rear-seat passengers.

Driver aids such as stability control, which are starting to appear on Chinese models, will also be taken into account for the first time, as C-NCAP requirements move closer to the acknowledged gold standards of crash testing, the Euro-NCAP star rating and the US National Highway Transportation Safety Adminstration criteria, including really tough testing such as the 64km/h offset frontal crash scenario.

It would seem Chinese automakers still have a long way to go. Since 2006 only 59 cars - less than half of new models released in China - have earned five stars even under the current, lower standards.

However, If they want to sell their cars in Europe or the US, they will have to pass Euro-NCAP or NHTSA respectively, so it can only help if Chinese domestic standards are just as strict.

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