MEMA Testifies at NCAP Hearing

On Oct. 1, MEMA presented a statement before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) during its public hearing on the U.S. New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). Also commonly known as “5-Stars for Cars” program, the U.S. NCAP has not been substantively updated for several years and MEMA, along with many other industry stakeholders, urged NHTSA to take action.

Heidi King opened the hearing with brief comments. Most notably, she was clear that this hearing was not about the NHTSA proposal from December 2015 when the previous administration proposed a series of enhancements and upgrades to the U.S. NCAP.

Many of the requests from those who testified were largely similar in nature. MEMA plans to address more in its written comments, but for the purposes of the public hearing, focused on three main points.

First, MEMA asked NHTSA to establish a clear roadmap with feasible milestones and achievable deliverables. The request for a transparent roadmap was universally raised by almost every organization that testified.

Second, we urged the agency to deliver on its long overdue congressional mandate under the FAST Act of 2015 to include crash avoidance information on vehicle stickers (a.k.a. the Monroney label) and to revisit and expand the label space dedicated to vehicle safety information.

Third, MEMA suggested that NHTSA align test protocols and equipment because standardizing “gives all stakeholders a common, consistent objective that allows for improved certainty that benefits future product research, development and planning” and spurs innovation.

The hearing was webcast and recorded; morning session: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zGfxXpXfImQ; afternoon session: https://www.youtube.com/embed/CO03bMI2kCI

NHTSA recently extended the deadline to respond to their request for comments to Oct. 31. The original request for comments from Aug. 3 can be found here.

MEMA is working with interested companies on our Vehicle Safety Subcommittee for input in drafting written comments on behalf of suppliers. If interested in learning more, please contact Leigh Merino.