Frontal impact resistance of motor vehicles (amend. Directive 70/156/EEC)

The objective of the proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents by introducing new standards for the impact resistance of passenger cars. The proposal defines new test procedures to be introduced in two stages which, when fully implemented, will represent frontal collisions more accurately. - The first stage of the provisional measures proposed involves introducing a test standard identical to that applied in the United States (30 angled rigid barrier test developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - ECE). Stage 1 will start on 1 October 1995 for new types of vehicle and on 1 October 2000 for all newly-registered vehicles. - The second stage involves introducing an offset deformable barrier test based on the work of the EEVC (European Experimental Vehicles Committee). Stage 2 will be compulsory as of 1 October 1998, but may be implemented on a voluntary basis at the manufacturer's request as of 1 January 1996. It will apply to all new vehicles as of 1 October 2003.�