The FIA Foundation has welcomed the approval of the first truly global technical vehicle safety regulation.
The World Forum for the Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations, based at the United Nations (UN Economic Commission for Europe) in Geneva, brings together technical government experts from across the world (including Europe, the US, Japan, India, China and Australia) to discuss the detail of vehicle regulation. It is the first truly global forum of its kind, with the power to make technical regulations that can be included in cars built around the globe. Established in 1998, the World Forum has discussed a number of draft global technical regulations (GTRs). A GTR on improving door locks has become the first to be approved.
Keeping doors closed during accidents reduces the possibility that occupants will be thrown from a vehicle and killed or injured in the event of a crash or door malfunction. The new standards will help to improve the testing of sliding doors in minivans and people carriers, requiring them to stay closed even when subjected to an internal testing force of about almost 4000 pounds.
David Ward, FIA Foundation Director General, welcomed the new GTR.
“This is a truly historic event. Although a door locking regulation may not seem to be a breakthrough in road safety that is exactly what the approval of this regulation represents. For the first time, all the major car producing countries and car markets in the world have worked together to produce a regulation with genuinely global application. We hear a lot about increasing globalisation of the car industry and we talk a lot about the challenges of worsening global road safety. Here is a Forum that can begin to do something about bringing these two trends together in a positive way. It has taken six years to reach this point. We must ensure that another six years does not pass before the next GTR. The FIA Foundation is confident that the World Forum will now be inspired to tackle serious road safety regulation issues and provide the leadership that is needed.’