New vehicle safety rules: auto industry reacts to European Parliament vote

20 February 2019
by ACEA -- last modified 22 February 2019

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) takes note of the European Parliament's vote on the revision of the General Safety Regulation, which mandates the safety technologies to be included as standard in new vehicle types.

Yesterday's vote by the lead Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee marks an important step towards adopting this legislation.

"We welcome the willingness of MEPs to enter rapidly into inter-institutional negotiations on this legislation, which is key to further improving road safety," stated ACEA Secretary General, Erik Jonnaert.

Indeed, ACEA supports a broad range of the safety measures voted upon by IMCO, including the requirement that all new car types come equipped with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), drowsiness and attention detection systems, reversing detection for cars and vans, emergency stop signals, and lane departure warning systems.

However, auto manufacturers are concerned about the proposed time between the entry into force of the regulation and the moment it applies. This should be aligned with product development time in a pragmatic way, allowing at least 36 months before application, ACEA cautions.

Jonnaert: "Despite a three-fold increase in traffic, road safety in Europe has improved significantly in the last 30 years. Maintaining this trend is important for an industry that prides itself on designing, producing and selling safe vehicles in probably one of the most demanding markets in the world."

ACEA represents the 15 major Europe-based car, van, truck and bus manufacturers: BMW Group, CNH Industrial, DAF Trucks, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford of Europe, Honda Motor Europe, Hyundai Motor Europe, Jaguar Land Rover, PSA Group, Renault Group, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Group.

European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA)