Chile has announced it will include NCAP safety ratings on labelling for new vehicle models, the first country in the region to do so. The move follows years of testing and advocacy for labelling in the country by New Car Assessment Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin NCAP), which was supported by the FIA Foundation.

The Chilean Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications made the announcement on the first day of the United Nations High Level Meeting on Global Road Safety.

All new cars must now be sold with the NCAP star rating result on their safety label and should indicate whether safety measures are or are not present. The label will also include a QR code which is directed to further information about the NCAP testing system. The rating is specifically for vehicles purchased in Chile, not models available in other countries which may have different safety features. Achieving a low NCAP star rating will not, however, prevent a vehicle from being on sale.

Latin NCAP encourages and calls for other governments of the region to follow Chile’s lead to have  independent consumer information about the safety levels offered by vehicles in the market.

Alejandro Furas, Secretary General of Latin NCAP, said: “This is a great step forward for Chile towards safer cars in the region following UN recommendations into this new Decade of Action for Road Safety towards 2030. As Chile is a Latin American country, it is understood that Latin NCAP’s evaluation should have been explicitly required together with the assessment of at least the best-selling models, this is a space to improve the regulation. Latin NCAP has demonstrated many times the effectiveness of assessing local models that when they perform below expectations, the majority of the manufacturers voluntarily react improving the safety performance of their models. Independently and impartially informed consumers brings a positive change to the market in the short and midterm. Latin NCAP supports and is committed in all of the extent with this step of Chile as well as with any other country that choose the same path in the region.”

Saul Billingsley, Executive Director of the FIA Foundation, said: “This is an important step forward for Chile, arming consumers with the data to make informed choices about their vehicle purchases. Manufacturers can no longer get away with building vehicles which lack even the most basic of safety measures and they will feel the financial repercussions for placing profit over people.  This has been a long, challenging process and I commend the work of Latin NCAP and the Chilean government for leading the way for the region.” 

David Ward, President of the Towards Zero Foundation and Global NCAP: “This is an important moment for vehicle safety in Chile and throughout Latin America. Global NCAP warmly congratulates the Chilean government and Latin NCAP, for the introduction of the new safety labelling programme which will empower consumers, helping them make informed purchasing choices based on comparative safety performance.  Global NCAP strongly supports Latin NCAPs call on other Latin American countries to follow the lead of Chile to introduce similar safety labelling systems as a mandatory regulatory requirement”.