The FIA Foundation is ready to support a new Latin American automobile crash test programme led by consumer organisations and auto clubs from Latin America. Modelled on the highly successful European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), a LANCAP would further develop an emerging global network of independent vehicle safety testing.

Latin America is a significant automotive manufacturing region producing around 3.6 million vehicles every year mainly in Brazil where major companies such as GM, Ford, Volkswagen and Fiat have production facilities.

Given the significant improvement in vehicle safety driven by consumer crash test programmes in Europe, North America and Australia, there is growing demand to develop similar initiatives in emerging automotive markets. FIA Foundation Chairman and Automobile Club of Costa Rica President Carlos Macaya believes the time is right to push for higher safety standards for cars sold in the Latin American market.

Macaya said: “Car buyers in Latin America need to know the safety performance of different models and a LANCAP would do exactly that.”

A growing concern among auto clubs and consumer groups is the marked difference in safety performance of car models sold in Europe when compared with Latin America. Some manufacturers remove key safety systems such as air bags, seat belt pre-tensioners and electronic stability control from their Latin American production. However, in their European models, these safety features are included to help ensure high five-star scores in EuroNCAP tests.

For example, two years ago Volkswagen was accused of ‘irresponsible savings’ on safety equipment after the Latin American version of its Fox city car scored very poorly in consumer crash tests. The tests carried out by consumer groups revealed that the Brazilian version of the Fox gained just two stars, whilst the European version Fox scored a respectable four stars when both models were subject to Euro NCAP crash tests. Adding to the problem, it then emerged that the Latin American Fox was more expensive to buy than the much better-equipped European version.

Creation of a LANCAP would make it much harder for manufacturers to conceal so-called ‘de-specification’ of the safety of the models they sell. The programme would also push them to include the latest safety technologies such as electronic stability control, which will be mandatory in Europe and the USA by 2012, but is rarely fitted in Latin America or other emerging markets.

Discussions on the launch of a LANCAP are underway between consumer testing group ICRT, EuroNCAP and the FIA Foundation. The proposed LANCAP will also be featured at the forthcoming FIA American Congress to be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on 14-15 September.

When EuroNCAP was established in 1996 by the FIA, auto clubs, consumer groups and the governments of the UK and Sweden, the European Car Manufacturers Association (ACEA) opposed the programme. The ACEA first unsuccessfully lobbied the European Commission to block funding for the programme and then attempted to discredit the independent tests.

However, as some individual car companies performed well in the tests, ACEA’s opposition collapsed and the association has been forced to come to terms with EuroNCAP’s successful achievement in raising the safety performance of new cars far beyond the minimum standards required by legislation.