This comes after the government gazetted the Draft Compulsory Specification for Motor Vehicles of Category M1, which proposes new safety standards for all new passenger cars sold in the local market.

The draft regulations have been published for public comment within two months of publication.

The AA says the revised safety standards must be applied across all derivatives and specification levels of new vehicles sold in the country.

AA Chief Executive Officer Bobby Ramagwede says, “The issue that we’re dealing with is that the safety standards in SA are far below the safety regulations of other territories. Basically in SA, you can get away with two airbags, and that’s pretty much it that’s required for safety. In European and Australian markets, you have to have at least six airbags, electronic stability control, and far stronger material used to protect the occupants of a vehicle.”

“So, ushering in this new era of regulation is supported; in fact, we were lobbying for the past 10 years to get those regulations raised to the point that we are par or equal to our European counterparts,” Ramagwede says.

—SABC—