ASEAN NCAP Sends Show-Cause Letter to a Malaysian Automaker Regarding Safety Specification

Kuala Lumpur: The New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) recently received complaints from some consumers regarding alteration of safety specifications in one of the vehicles which were tested earlier. It is being said that a top tether fitment was removed from a locally-assembled model which compromised on child protection system inside the car. ASEAN NCAP did not reveal the name of automaker or model but said that this removal of tether fitment is an irresponsible act on the side of the manufacturer.

ASEAN NCAP Secretary-General, Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim, said that this action of removing such fitment will surely have a severe impact on Child Occupant Protection in the ASEAN NCAP test. Hence, the exclusion of such specification should not be allowed at all. Khairil said, “This is an irresponsible act by the manufacturer and needs to be made public in order to demonstrate safety is not tolerable.” He further added “The results from the ASEAN NCAP rating is a ‘promise’ between manufacturers and NCAP, especially on the safety fitment installed inside their respective vehicles, and certainly this manufacturer has broken their promise.”

Now, the ASEAN NCAP would be sending a show-cause letter to the concerned manufacturer demanding for a plan to resolve the matter. As a result, either the car would be retested with a lower specification variant or its rating would be suspended. Khairil said that overall finding will be made public and they are also investigating other models of the brand too which had earlier been assessed by ASEAN NCAP.

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Basically, this top tether is a part of an ISOFIX system which is attached to the vehicle by an anchor. The attachments points are usually placed in specific locations like roof in the rear, behind the rear seat backs, under the rear seats or in the trunk. This attachment reduces the forward movement of the child during a collision and hence provides extra safety.