China Makes Efforts to Improve the Safety of Passenger Cars

Consumer complaints regarding the safety of passenger cars have risen in China recently.
This situation has prompted the world's largest auto market to pay more attention to product safety, like setting a national standard for airbags in automobiles.

What's your major concern when buying a new car? Price, brand or safety?

Prospective car buyers in Beijing give their opinions.

"The safety of a car is very important. I will put this first."

"Definitely, I'm most concerned about a car's safety standard."

But these car buyers may not be able to purchase as safe a vehicle as they wish, as many cars on the market do have safety problems.

Wang Qiang is an official responsible for dealing with traffic accidents at the Ministry of Public Security.

"When passenger cars turn over in the US and Australia, only injuries are involved in most cases. But in China deaths often occur. Last year, at least ten people were killed in each of 29 severe traffic accidents. Among these accidents, 25 involved passenger cars. So it's urgent that China raises safety standards for passenger cars."

Statistics from the China Association for Quality show that consumer complaints about the safety of cars amounted to 24 percent among all the car-related complaints last year. The figure more than doubled that of two years ago.

Fortunately, China has been making concrete efforts to improve the safety of passenger cars.
Since May this year, the country has begun research on a national standard for airbags in cars, which have proved effective in preventing deaths in car accidents.

Sun Zhendong is a researcher at the Tianjin-based China Automotive Technology and Research Centre.

"We are now doing elementary research and conducting crash-tests using airbags. The research includes low, medium and high-speed tests of the device after it's been installed in cars. But, so far no final research results have been released. So we don't yet have a clear timetable for the emergence of a national safety standard on airbags."

According to information from the Tianjin-based National Automotive Standardization Technical Committee, it takes at least two years before the standard comes out.

Currently, no country in the world has imposed a national standard on airbags in cars.

Although no timetable is yet available, insiders say China's lead in setting a standard will contribute to improving car safety throughout the country and facilitate the healthy development of the auto market.

Shuang Feng, CRI news.