Low-safety vehicles were marketed in Mexico, putting safety at risk

Every year in Mexico, around 16,000 people lose their lives in road accidents, 44 every day, while around 134,000 people are injured and, of these, 40,000 acquire some type of permanent disability.

Low-safety vehicles were marketed in Mexico, putting safety at risk
Safety. Photo by Therese Mikkelsen Skaar / Unsplash

The organizations Consumer Power, Reflect Responsibly and the New Vehicle Assessment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin NCAP, presented the new stage of the campaign "How safe is your car", which they said, aims to expose the high risk to the public posed by the 1.5 million low-safety cars sold between 2015 and 2020.

Based on an analysis conducted by El Poder del Consumidor ("Consumer Power"), in conjunction with Latin NCAP, where the accumulated sales of the administrative registry of the automotive industry of light vehicles of the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics, INEGI, were taken, it was found that 1.5 million cars were rated with 0 and 1 stars in their safety performance evaluation in Latin NCAP, and that, according to their poor result in protection for both adult and child occupants, currently represent a high risk to the population.

According to information from the Technical Secretariat of the National Council for Accident Prevention (STCONAPRA), every year in Mexico, around 16 thousand people lose their lives in road accidents, 44 every day, while around 134 thousand people are injured and, of these, 40 thousand acquire some type of permanent disability.

With the slogan "They withstand crashes, your family doesn't", the campaign alludes to the fact that crash tests -in which safety performance is measured- use crash test dummies, which help to measure and simulate the damage that a person can receive in a real crash. However, only they (the dummies) are designed to withstand the impacts, not a person or "your family" who could be seriously injured or even killed in an unsafe car. The campaign seeks to raise consumer awareness about vehicle safety and invites the industry to improve its safety standards for the Mexican population.

Given this scenario, the "How safe is your car" campaign also states that more than 5,000 lives could be saved in Mexico each year if there were safer cars and better information for consumers.

Final Report of the Regional Public Good Project (BPR)" of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB, by introducing vehicle safety technologies, 5,627 lives could be saved in Mexico each year. This is of utmost importance because there is sufficient and necessary scientific evidence that more and better vehicle safety, together with an information system for consumers, such as Latin NCAP, can save thousands of lives every year. Finally, the organizations called on corporations and manufacturers to only market safer cars in Mexico that protect all road users, and emphasized, "As consumers, as vehicle occupants, as pedestrians, as cyclists, as motorcyclists, let us demand safer cars for Mexico."

Source: La Jornada