Korea, China and India Attended the World NCAP Seminar & World NCAP Meeting for the First Time

TOKYO, Nov. 20, 2006 -- The National Agency for Automotive Safety & Victims' Aid (NASVA), which is dedicated to providing superior automobile safety, sponsored the World NCAP Seminar & World NCAP Meeting held October 31 to November 2, 2006 at the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan. A number of global agencies involved in automobile safety assessment participated in this three-day event. At the conference and seminar, in addition to participating agencies from the United States, Europe, Australasia and Japan, agencies from Korea and newly industrializing countries including China and India attended for the first time to strengthen cooperation in the international automobile safety assessment community.

The New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) conducts fair testing and evaluation of the safety of automobiles. By publicly releasing the test results, the NCAP aims to provide information for consumers to select safer vehicles and to encourage automobile manufacturers to develop safer vehicles. In countries and regions like the United States, Europe, Australasia and Japan, manufacturers are contributing to the spread of highly safe vehicles through already accepted NCAP guidelines when designing their vehicles. This conference, the fourth of its kind, is co-hosted by Japan and Australia and marks the first step in building a cooperative system on a global scale with the newly participating countries.

Prior to the World NCAP Meeting, a World NCAP Seminar was held on October 31 at the United Nations University. The seminar featured the latest undertakings in automobile safety assessment from around the world and was open to both industry representatives and the general public. Upon conclusion of the seminar, a photo session was held where participating agency representatives had their photos taken next to two crash test vehicles (Toyota RAV4, Honda StepWagon) that were used during an actual automobile safety assessment test.

  NASVA will continue to strive for even greater improved automobile safety.

  Contact:
   Mikito Yamada
   The National Agency for Automotive Safety & Victims' Aid
   Phone: +81-3-5276-4194
   Fax: +81-3-3239-9336
   E-mail: yamada-mikito@nasva.go.jp
   URL: http://www.nasva.go.jp/mamoru/english/index.html