Trend and Background of Legislation Concerning Crashworthiness

摘要

This paper discusses the current trends and background of automobile safety legislation, mainly in Europe and the United States, and examines the future direction of safety regulation concerning crashworthiness. In Europe, primarily the European Union, comprised of major Western European countries, frontal and side impact standards, a long-pending issue, are about to be established due to strong social pressure and general public awareness. In the United States, standards have been established for passenger head protection against impact. Thus, the pending issue of automobile safety regulations seems to have been settled. Although slightly different in background, Europe and the United States share common interests such as second-stage requirements for frontal and side impacts, seat back strength improvement and neck injury prevention in low-speed collision. Positive participation by vehicle manufacturers is required in the rule-making process as the movement toward a uniform standard gathers momentum in Japan, Europe and the United States, in both governments and industries.