Just so you folks know, I've published the press release below for everyone's benefit.
To approach the child safety concerns, the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP), a body that gives ratings to vehicles with child occupant protection, will be organizing an ASEAN NCAP Child Safety Day. The event will be held on 11 November 2015 at Autoliv Hirotako Safety Sdn. Bhd. The objectives of the event are to promote the use of child restraint system (CRS) and to introduce the standards related to CRS to the general public. The highlight of the event will be a demonstration to evaluate the performance of child seat.
You will also find a somewhat details description on how the tests determine the safety standard of the cars tested.
PRESS RELEASE
ASEAN NCAP – SAFER CARS FOR ASEAN REGION
ASEAN NCAP Child Safety Day
Kajang, 16 October 2015 – Child occupant safety inside a vehicle is one of the most concerned topics discussed recently. There have been incidents whereby a child could have been saved if he/she was properly restrained. Even the vehicle itself plays a significant role in providing protection to the child occupant with child safety fitment system.
To approach the child safety concerns, the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP), a body that gives ratings to vehicles with child occupant protection, will be organizing an ASEAN NCAP Child Safety Day. The event will be held on 11 November 2015 at Autoliv Hirotako Safety Sdn. Bhd. The objectives of the event are to promote the use of child restraint system (CRS) and to introduce the standards related to CRS to the general public. The highlight of the event will be a demonstration to evaluate the performance of child seat.
ASEAN NCAP Chairman, Prof. Dr. Wong Shaw Voon said, “ASEAN NCAP Child Safety Day is a positive step towards promoting the importance of using CRS. CRS is able to minimize the risk of a child being fatally injured when involved in an accident. We are also inviting a speaker from Japan New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP) to share their experiences in CRS and hope to educate the public on this.”
According to ASEAN NCAP Secretary-General, Mr. Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim, “We have been planning the event since middle of this year. The timing is opportune with the recent complaint we received from a consumer regarding the removal of top tether in one of our tested vehicles”. He added that top tether is an important component to improve child protection system inside a vehicle apart from ISOFIX. However, Khairil also emphasized that, “The significant value of top tether can only be seen when the child is restraint inside a child seat. If no child seat is used, with or without top tether, it will not make any difference of protecting the child inside the vehicle.”
ASEAN NCAP Child Safety Day event at Autoliv is spearheaded by Mr. Yahaya Ahmad, ASEAN NCAP child safety expert. Yahaya said the Child Safety Day aims to promote safe travelling with children. He added, “Other than simply using child seats, it is also important to correctly install child seats inside a vehicle by parents or care givers in order to obtain maximum protection. Hence, we are also arranging for an expert to perform a demo on how to use child seat correctly.”
Currently the ASEAN NCAP Child Safety is only opened to invited guests. Interested parties who would like to attend the event are encouraged to register themselves with ASEAN NCAP Communications Officer, Mrs. Salina Mustaffa at 03-89249200 (ext. 425) by 30 October 2015 as only limited seats are available.
ASEAN NCAP
ASEAN NCAP is a new addition to the NCAP organizations around the world, which is targeted to enhance safety standards, raise consumer awareness and thus encourage a market for safer vehicles in the Southeast Asia region (ASEAN community). This is a collaborative effort by MIROS and Global NCAP, in which the latter funded the pilot phase of the project. ASEAN NCAP is also supported by the membership of Automobile Associations from Malaysia (AAM), the Philippines (AAP), Singapore (AA Singapore), Cambodia (AAC) and Thailand (RAAT).
Currently, ASEAN NCAP Steering Committee (SC) is chaired by the Director-General of MIROS/ASEAN NCAP Chairman, Prof. Dr. Wong Shaw Voon and the Technical Committee (TC) is chaired by the ASEAN NCAP Secretary-General, Mr. Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim.
Frontal Offset Crash Test
Frontal Offset crash test is conducted by having crash test dummies (Hybrid III 50th percentile - male) at both the driver and front passenger seats and two child dummies (P3 and P1.5) inside the child restraint system (CRS) in the test car that moves at 63 km/h (closing speed) when it hit a crash barrier (crushable aluminium barrier). The test results are described below.
- Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) – Driver & Front Passenger
The result from sensors installed in the dummies and at the body of the car will be analyzed and classified by human body region. To sum up, the worst result from each dummy (implies injury level; compared) by body region is considered and accumulated (A). The assessment on the vehicle is also carried out to consider real-world situation known as “modifier” assessment (B). Any “penalty” (B) will be deducted from the previous score (A) to produce the final score (C = A – B). Out of 16 points (C), the star rating will be determined by the following scheme.
Score | Star Rating |
14.00–16.00 | ✶✶✶✶✶ |
11.00–13.99 | ✶✶✶✶ |
8.00–10.99 | ✶✶✶ |
5.00–7.99 | ✶✶ |
2.00–4.99 | ✶ |
0.00–1.99 | Zero Star |
- Child Occupant Protection (COP) – 3-year-old and 18-month-old Infant
The result for child occupants will be based on the CRS used in the test as well as the injury level read by the in-dummy sensors. The P3 and and P1.5 child dummies represent 3-year-old and 18-month-old infant, respectively. Thus, by test definition, the result can be defined as “the level of protection for the child occupant by using the stated CRS model in that car with specified (available) CRS attachment method e.g. by using ISOFIX, top tether or solely seatbelt”.
The final result that is in percentage-based will be derived from the following scheme.
Child Occupant Rating Scheme | |
Dynamic Test | 24/24 |
CRS Based Assessment | 12/12 |
Vehicle Based Assessment | 13/13 |
TOTAL | 49/49 |
Compliance Percentage | 100% |
From September 2013, star rating is also applied in COP which previously stated only the percentage of compliance. The star rating will be determined by the following scheme.
Compliance Score (Percentage) | Star Rating |
43.00–49.00 (>87%) | ✶✶✶✶✶ |
34.00–42.00 (69%–86%) | ✶✶✶✶ |
25.00–33.99 (51%–68%) | ✶✶✶ |
15.00–24.99 (31%–50%) | ✶✶ |
0.01–14.99 (0.02%–30%) | ✶ |
0.00 (0%) | Zero-Star |
New Pre-requisite
Starting January 2015, side impact test (UN R95) was introduced as a new pre-requisite in AOP for 3-Star and above (pass-fail).
ASEAN NCAP Rating Plate – Results Simplified for Public Consumption
As the result of the test is primarily for public consumption i.e. for consumers to consider the quality of safety protection offered by the car model based on NCAP assessment, they can simply refer to the star rating for AOP as well as COP. Due to the above mentioned changes in the rating scheme, a new result plate is introduced effective from September 2013.
About MIROS – The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) is an agency under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) Malaysia focusing on road safety R&D activities.
About Global NCAP – Global NCAP is a non-profit organization registered in the United Kingdom which aims to encourage the worldwide availability of independent consumer information about the safety of motor vehicles.
