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Auto industry welcomes new Euro NCAP Awards as recognition for its sustained investment in life-saving technologies
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Paris, 1 October 2010 – The European automobile manufacturers welcome the
introduction of the Euro NCAP Advanced Awards as an important recognition
of their sustained and progressive investments in life-saving
technologies and safety systems.
A first set of the Advanced Awards was handed out today at the Paris
motor show by Euro NCAP, the European New Car Assessment Programme run by a number of
governments and motoring clubs in the EU. Euro NCAP is best known for its
star-rating of cars based on how these perform in a crash test. The
newest safety features, however, focus on accident prevention rather than
impact mitigation. The traditional tests cannot sufficiently assess the
major benefits that these advanced systems bring to drivers and other
road users.
“Advanced safety systems are an important feature in our cars and the
Awards will help provide our customers with essential information about
the new technologies and the expected life-saving benefits”, said Ivan
Hodac, Secretary-General of ACEA, the auto industry’s Brussels based
trade association. “The auto industry has worked closely with Euro NCAP
to develop the new test protocol, and we will continue bringing in new
candidate technologies for future assessment.”
The European auto industry is leading in safety and environmental
technologies and consistently sustains high investments in
ground-breaking R&D. With over €26 billion invested in R&D each year, the
ACEA members are the largest private investors in R&D in Europe.
The European automotive industry is a keen supporter of the EU objective
to reduce fatalities from traffic. Over the past decades, so-called
passive safety systems such as seatbelts and airbags have played a major
role in road casualty reduction and the technologies involved have been
constantly further improved. In addition, the safety of more vulnerable
road users like pedestrians and cyclists has been increased as well with
improvements in bonnet design and collapsible mirrors. Many ‘active’
safety features including ABS and electronic stability control are now
fitted as standard as well. Most vehicles, today, boast a maximum
five-star rating from Euro NCAP.
The new generation of safety technologies is often referred to as
Advanced Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS) and aim to help the driver in
mastering the situation on the road. These systems use sensors, radar and
video imaging to monitor the surroundings of a vehicle. Examples of the
technologies include blind-spot monitoring, active cruise control and
lane-departure warning.
Technological innovation will continue to help reduce road accidents and
the European industry will remain at the forefront of progress. At the
same time, however, efforts must be made to improve the traffic
circumstances with intelligent and well-designed infrastructure and
supported by road traffic law enforcement. The auto industry promotes an
integrated approach to road safety in which all stakeholders play their
part.
About ACEA
The European automotive industry is key to the strength and
competitiveness of Europe. The ACEA members are BMW Group, DAF Trucks,
Daimler, FIAT Group, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, Jaguar Land
Rover, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault Group,
Scania, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group.
They provide direct employment to more than 2.3 million people and
indirectly support another 10 million jobs. Annually, ACEA members invest
over €26 billion in R&D, or 5% of turnover.
For further information, please contact Sigrid de Vries, Director
Communications ACEA +32 2 738 73 45 or sv@acea.be
Please also visit www.acea.be