Canada urged to adopt European car safety standards

CANADA has been urged to adopt European standards for new vehicle safety by the president of Mercedes-Benz Canada.

Tim Reuss told reporters that if EU rules, which apply to all cars built by European industrial powerhouses like Mercedes and the Volkswagen Group, were in place Canada would already have new, more efficient, safer cars.

At present Mercedes cannot import the A-Class because of the expense associated with modifying it to conform to Canadian safety requirements, and Mr Reuss argues that the current approach lacks common sense.

“Are you really going to say that a car that has been deemed safe enough and environmentally okay for Europe is not environmentally okay and safe to be driven in Canada or vice versa?” he asked.

Among technologies that Europeans already have but Canadians do not are brake lights that automatically flash rapidly if a following car looks to be on a collision course, warning the driver of the car that he or she is approaching too fast.

The four-wheel drive Sprinter van would also already have been delivered to Canadian businesses, aid Mr Reuss, instead of being delayed to 2015.

The comments were backed up by BMW Canada, who said they would also be able to expand their ranges if European standards were accepted in the country.

The University of Michigan and Sweden’s Chalmers University are to run a study to examine whether vehicles produced to North American and European safety standards respectively, and then driven on the opposite side of the Atlantic, provide the same level of protection as vehicles built to domestic standards.

By Press Association reporter